PhilJets Evacuated Tourists Stranded in the Philippines

Philjets, April 21, 2020 - Manila - Since the enhanced quarantined started in the Philippines, foreign tourists have found themselves stranded throughout the archipelago, with no means to return home to their families. 

Mandated by the French Embassy and the German Embassy, PhilJets Aero Charter Corp, a leading regional Southeast Asian business aviation company that is more used to operate helicopters and private jets aircrafts; mobilized its team and coordinated with its network to transfer 144 tourists that were still stranded in some of the 7,641 different islands of the Philippines back to their countries of residence. 

Considering the ongoing lockdown in the Philippines, the mission included organizing the evacuation of 144 foreign passengers in a single day, on April 8th, by coordinating a total of 5 private charter flights from some of the most popular tourist locations in the country such as Boracay,  Siargao known for its surfing spots, Cagayan de Oro, Butuan and Davao, to Manila, where the passenger would board chartered international flights to return to their respective home countries

In total, 101 German and 10 French nationals were flown by PhilJets using a variety of aircraft manufactured in Canada such as the Bombardier Q400, in the USA such as the Cessna 206 and in Germany such as the Dornier 328.

In addition, other passengers benefited from the mission, including 16 Filipinos, 5 Austrians, 4 Irish, Slovakia and Belgian citizens as well as other European, Singaporean and Israeli national passengers. 

All passengers were able to connect with their corresponding flights for Frankfurt and Paris on the same day. Geoffroy Cahen, Commercial Director of PhilJets, involved in the planning, coordination and operation of the mission mentioned "We are all delighted to have contributed to support this initiative and assist hundreds of tourists in need and we are happy they were able to reach their homes safely."

The success of such project was possible thanks to the hard work and the collaboration of many including German Ambassador in the Philippines Mrs. Anke Reiffenstuel, French Ambassador Nicolas Galey and their respective teams, the support of Mayor Sara Duterte of Davao, Governor Florencio Miraflores, Mayor Frolibar Bautista of Aklan. 

Also involved were Misamis Oriental Governor Yevgeny Vincent Emano of Butuan, Mayor Ronnie Vicente Lagnada, as well as Department of Tourism Mary Jean Camarin of Caraga, Butuan city. Government entities such as The Civil Aviation Authority, Department of Transport and Department of Foreign Affairs also played a very critical role in this operation.

Nine helicopters and eight private jets

Despite managing a fleet of 17 aircrafts including 9 helicopters and 8 private jets, PhilJets had to use its industry partners' aircrafts to support the mission. The operational partners of PhilJets included flagship carrier Philippine Airlines, Platinum Skies Aviation and Asian Aerospace, which all contributed in making the entire journey possible by providing the required aircrafts.

"It has been a quite stressful operation to handle considering the unusual complexity to obtain flight permits due to the corona virus pandemic, but our colleagues, teams and partners have done an outstanding job" said Abigail Macabit. 

Robert Reguero, CEO of PhilJets added: "We extend our gratitude to everyone involved in the missions in providing the stranded families a solution to get back home to their loved ones. We will continue to assist and provide our support to customers, partners and the community, to the best of our capabilities. We hope that together, we will manage to get through these difficult times."

PhilJets, which traditionally operates business aviation and tourism flights has nevertheless the experience and know-how of arranging and completing itself some emergency evacuation flights, including supporting organizations such as Médecins Sans Frontiers, International Red Cross, Embassies and other entities during the last major typhoons in the Philippines and with such experience is familiar with emergency medical, evacuation or extraction flights services through its diversified fleet of helicopters and planes.

In addition, PhilJets had to start arranging air cargo transport, cargo flights and logistics, in order to fulfill the demand from protective personal equipment (PPE) and other various equipment including masks, gowns, gloves, both from China to the Philippines and international cargo flights.

About PhilJets: PhilJets is a business aviation company which offers general aviation services including air transport, aircraft management, chartered flights, tourism flights. Established in 2013, the group of company includes a fast-growing MRO (Maintenance Repair & Overhaul) and Aviation Distribution company. It has become the Authorized Service Center of Textron Aviation for King Air and Cessna Caravan types since 2019.

Philjets now counts in its fleet a variety of Jets (Challenger 350, Citation Latitude, Gulfstream G200, Citation XLS, King Air 350) and multiple Helicopters (Airbus H145, Airbus H130, Bell 407)