(Eagle News) — Three airlines have committed to help in the repatriation of Overseas Filipino Workers from the Middle East, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said on Friday, Jan. 10.
In a statement, CAAP director general Jim Sydiongco said Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines have agreed to accommodate free of charge stranded Filipinos in the United Arab Emirates “or in any of its available Middle East flights, once the plans for the repatriation has been outlined.”
Sydiongco said Air Asia, on the other hand, “has agreed to the possible allocation and free accommodation of repatriated Filipinos that need to go back to their respective provinces in their domestic flights.”
The statement said the airlines’ manifestation came after defense, labor, and transportation officials met on Thursday, Jan. 9, to draft plans for the evacuation of Filipinos affected by tensions in the Middle East.
The meeting, which was aimed at mapping out strategies to assist OFWs in the affected areas, was presided over by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
Sydiongco said the CAAP, for its part, was ready to comply with the “government’s air requirements, air asset needs, and air traffic aid to facilitate air movement.”
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has said the mandatory repatriation only applied to OFWs in Iraq.
Lorenzana has said the government was also, however, ready to assist Filipinos in Iran, Lebanon and Libya who wish to come home.
Tensions in the Middle East intensified following a US airstrike that killed top Iranian military official Qassem Soleimani in Iraq.