Philippine Airlines (PAL) will temporarily suspend its flights to and from Kuwait starting May 16 due to low passenger traffic.
In a statement, PAL said it has maintained flights to Kuwait “despite difficult market conditions as a service to our countrymen working in this Middle Eastern country.” PAL launched its direct service to Kuwait in January 2016.
The flag carrier also noted that since early this year, it has repatriated free of charge nearly 900 distressed Filipino workers from Kuwait to Manila in response to the call of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“With the repatriation effort now complete, the ongoing slowdown in OFW (overseas Filipino workers) travel has made regular operations economically unsustainable, hence the need to suspend these flights to Kuwait until such time that market conditions on the route improve,” PAL explained.
It added, however, that it will continue to serve Kuwait through its flights to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Riyadh, Jeddah, and Damman.
Passengers with flights on May 16 and beyond may avail of several options: rebook their flights on or before May 16; reroute their flight to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, or Doha, then have a connecting flight to Kuwait on other airlines; or refund their unused ticket. For those availing of rerouting, PAL said it will shoulder the cost of the connecting flight to another airline.
