RECRUITMENT consultant and migration expert Emmanuel Geslani slammed the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) for limiting to 400 passengers a day and the number of days the chartered flights allowed to land in Manila, saying thousands of Filipino seafarers were desperate to go home. He said 30,000 or more Filipino seafarers were still stuck on ships on the East Coast, Caribbean and parts of Europe whose cruise operators were arranging charter flights for the crew member to return home. “A chartered Boeing B747 can carry at least 450 while another Boeing B777-300 can load around 350 as the seating arrangement of these planes is always economy nine or even 10 each row,” Geslani said in a statement. He added that just one plane each day with more than 400 passengers would use up the limitations set by CAAP. Commercial flights at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and eight other international airports in the country were suspended last week as part of measures to control the spread of the coronavirus. The 10,000 from the 40,000 expected to arrive this month through June will be ferried by the major cruise liners from Europe and the United States. Meanwhile, in Manila Bay, the 12 cruise ships crew are under a 14-day quarantine and mass testing for the virus Covid-19 and Department of Health medical teams assisted by the Philippine Coast Guard for some 5,000 Filipino crew members, Geslani said. Geslani is urging CAAP to reconsider the limitation on charter flights for seafarers.
