Cebu Pacific Begins Trial Test Before Boarding on Manila to GenSan Flights

Cebu Pacific Runs a Trial on Free Antigen Testing Before Boarding Flights

Only passengers who test negative can board the aircraft.
by Kyzia Maramara | December 02, 2020

Cebu Pacific Air’s pilot run for Test Before Boarding (TBB) starts on Dec. 3, 2020 for all CEB passengers flying from Manila to General Santos. Flying in the midst of a pandemic is going to require a lot more steps than usual but CEB has been actively looking for ways to make traveling more convenient for its passengers.

With TBB, passengers take the antigen test at the airport before their flight and only those who test negative can board the aircraft. CEB coordinated with the local government of General Santos and the Philippine Airport Diagnostic Laboratory (PADL) to run the free-of-charge trial until Dec. 14, 2020.

Paving the way in boosting travel confidence

“Safety has always been our topmost priority and in this current environment, health is part of safety,” said Candice Iyog, CEB VP for Marketing and Customer Experience. “We look forward to the results of this pilot so we can pave way for a more confident restart of non-essential travel and standardization of requirements across all Philippine destinations. We would also like to laud General Santos City for piloting TBB with us.”

“We welcome this development through Cebu Pacific because it opens up more people to the idea of traveling again. We believe this will be a breakthrough initiative, as it will allow our residents to feel more secure and not be wary of arriving passengers from Manila,” said Mayor Ronnel Rivera of General Santos City.

Manila-General Santos pre-flight checklist and experience

Those flying from Manila to GenSan must first fill out an electronic information form (E-PIF) found on PADL’s website and pre-register via the GenSan official website. These must be done at least 24 hours before the flight. Passengers must also secure a travel authority to be allowed entry into the city, and check-in online before going to the airport, as part of Contactless Flight procedures.

Passengers have to arrive at NAIA Terminal 3 at least five (5) hours before flight departure; the testing facility is located at Level 3. Confirmatory RT-PCR testing will be required if the test comes out positive.

Cebu Pacific is looking for more ways to make flying convenient

TBB is just one initiative in CEB’s multi-layered approach to safety. CEB continues to deploy the world’s best safety practices to ensure guests can travel with peace of mind. This includes extensive daily disinfection of aircraft, HEPA air filters onboard that can filter out 99.99% of viruses, frequent cleaning of passenger surfaces at the airport and inflight, and enhanced self-service online portals so guests can easily manage flights.

Strict Contactless Flight procedures are also in place, such as boarding pass scanning, required online check-in, and self-bag tag capabilities. Log on to Cebu Pacific’s website for more information.