PAL discontinues flights to Kuwait

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines on Thursday said it has discontinued flights to Kuwait, noting that the route is no longer profitable to the company.

The airline decided to stop flights to and from Kuwait on May 16, PAL president and COO Jaime Bautista said.

“Admittedly, we’re not making money in Kuwait. We will stop flying to this destination because the demand has gone down and there’s stiff competition on this route,” Bautista said in a press conference in Manila.

“For us to be able to reduce losses we will stop flying to this route,” he said.

President Rodrigo Duterte has banned the deployment of workers to Kuwait, where an estimated 260,000 Filipinos were working, of which more than 65 percent were domestic helpers.

The ban was ordered lifted by Duterte on May 16, days after the Philippines and Kuwait signed a deal on the protection of Filipino migrant workers there.

PAL said it will boost flights to at least four destinations this year—New York, New Delhi, Mumbai, and Sapporo. —VDS, GMA News