Almost 200 Filipinos left Australia to go home to the Philippines through Philippine Airlines (PAL) special flights. PAL organized two special flights from Sydney and Melbourne on May 27, 2020 to serve stranded Filipinos.
This brings the special flights arranged to bring home Filipinos in Australia to the Philippines to a total of seven flights, since travel restrictions were put in place in late March.
PAL operated three special flights from Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane on April 19, 2020 and two special flights from Sydney and Melbourne on April 29, 2020. These flights enabled a total of almost 400 Filipinos in Australia to go home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Embassy in cooperation with the Philippine Consulates in Australia and the Philippine Overseas and Labor Office (POLO) in Canberra continue to facilitate the repatriation of Filipino seafarers. On May 21, 2020, nine seafarers were able to go home from Perth to Manila.
International travel in both the Philippines and Australia remains restricted. The Australian Embassy in Manila and PAL organized the flights from the Philippines that made possible the assisted departures from Australia, enabling Filipinos to return home and be with their families.
The Philippine Embassy understands that there may be many more Filipinos in Australia in need of assistance as we continue to face many challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Filipino Community are advised to regularly visit the Philippine Embassy website: www.philembassy.org.au for further advisories as the Embassy continues to find ways to assist the best way it can.
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For more information, visit https://www.philembassy.org.au or
https://www.facebook.com/PHinAustralia.
