PAL cuts in-bound fares to help Pinoy evacuees from Fukushima

To help Filipino evacuees from Fukushima Prefecture who are facing involuntary repatriation, flag-carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) slashed its fares by more than a third on inbound flights from Narita, Japan, the company said in a statement on Friday. The price of a one-way ticket from Narita to Manila or Narita-Cebu has been reduced for a limited time to about $335, against the regular rate of $500. PAL Chairman and CEO Lucio C. Tan ordered the issuance of discounted tickets for Filipinos facing mandatory evacuation by the Japanese government due to high radiation levels near Fukushima. PAL stressed that only Filipino evacuees facing involuntary evacuation from areas within the danger zone declared by Japanese authorities can avail of the ‘all-in’ discounted tickets (excluding Japanese taxes/fees). They are advised to coordinate with the Philippine Embassy in Japan which is in charge of overseeing the repatriation. Regular passengers, on the other hand, may purchase their tickets through the PAL sales office in Narita Airport, PAL ticket offices in downtown Tokyo, other PAL offices in Osaka, Fukuoka and Nagoya, accredited travel agents in Japan or the PAL website. PAL said the latest airlift assistance is the company’s modest contribution to the effort of the government to repatriate Filipino victims of the earthquake, tsunami and radiation leaks from a crippled nuclear reactor in Northern Japan. The company said the reduced fares are just enough to recover actual cost of operating the flights, such as jet fuel, landing and parking fees, crew salaries, other airport fees, among others. A few weeks ago, PAL started shipping thousands of bottled water to Japan. Donated by Asia Brewery, Inc., another Tan-owned company, the drinking water was coursed through the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. A total of 700,000 bottles of distilled water were shipped for free by PAL to help calamity victims. -- CMA/OMG, GMA News