United Airlines announced today the updated flight schedules for Guam, Saipan, Palau and Micronesia from May through July 5.
At a time when demand for travel is quite low due to the Covid-19 global outbreak and strict travel restrictions remain in place in the islands, United is carefully adjusting flights in the region.
United will be operating an estimated 85 percent fewer flights in May and June 2020 compared to the same period last year.
Sam Shinohara, United’s managing director of airport operations for Asia-Pacific said, “As the islands slowly reopen, United will continue to support its customers and the community by trying to maintain lifeline connections. While we see that travel in the months ahead and into late summer might be slow, United looks forward to welcoming our customers back and providing a safe and comfortable travel experience.”
“We understand that our customers may have some concerns about traveling again, which is why it’s important that they understand United’s commitment to keeping customers and employees safe from before takeoff to after landing," he added.
The May - July 5 flight schedules to/from Guam are outlined below:
United also provided updates for the following routes:
· Tokyo/Narita: Two of the three daily flights from Guam have been suspended until further notice – UA 828/ UA 827 and UA 873/ UA 874
.· Nagoya and Osaka: Suspended until further notice.
· Fukuoka: Suspended until Oct. 24
· Manila: Suspended until further notice, including the Manila to Koror segment.
With current Covid-19 travel restrictions in place, United said flight schedules are subject to change without advance notice. The airline encourages customers to check united.com for the latest flight schedule.
Given the high level of uncertainty regarding travel, United said it is working to give customers more flexibility by waiving change fees for any booking – domestic or international – through May 31 for any travel they have booked through the end of the year.
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"Because the impact of the coronavirus outbreak continues to evolve rapidly, our teams are in daily contact with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), government agencies and other global health organizations to share the most up-to-the-minute information," United said.
"We also have a team of in-house medical experts, including an industrial hygienist who reviews and tests cleaning products, and a corporate medical team who are on-call, around the clock to assist with employee and customer health inquiries," it added.
United also said all aircraft are cleaned at a variety of touchpoints throughout the day. The cleaning procedure for flights includes a thorough wipe-down of all hard surfaces touched by customers and employees — lavatories, galleys, tray tables, window shades, and armrests.
United said it has implemented onboard procedures to minimize risks All flight attendants have started to wear face masks and gloves while on duty. Effective May 4, all travelers are required to wear a facial covering on board. Customers are urged to bring their own face coverings, but our customer service agents will be able to provide them if they don't have one when boarding our aircraft.
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Meanwhile, the Philippine Airlines is scheduled to resume domestic and international flights, including Guam, on May 15. "The continued pause in our operations is in compliance with the Luzon Enhanced Community Quarantine, which has been further extended by the Philippine government until May 15th," PAL said. "We intend to resume operations by May 16, 2020, if warranted by Philippine and international authorities, global public health conditions and the travel environment." PAL said it is setting plans to operate a reduced number of weekly flights on most domestic routes and on selected international routes. List of operating flights and details will be announced once finalized, PAL said. "However, we caution you that these plans are highly subject to change, depending on Covid-19 conditions: the duration of community quarantines, the status of travel bans and restrictions imposed by various governments and their impact on passenger demand, and above all on the public health and safety situation in each of the countries that PAL serves," the airline said.
PAL said it will continue to operate occasional special flights to repatriate stranded passengers and to carry cargo shipments to transport urgent medical equipment and supplies to help sustain critical supply chains across the Philippines. ADVERTISEMENT
