Philippine Airlines flight PR361 arrived in Manila on Wednesday carrying 400,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines from Beijing.

“This was an all-cargo chartered flight requested and arranged by the Philippine government in coordination with Philippine Airlines to ensure the transport to Manila of the second batch of Sinovac vaccines donated by the Chinese government,” PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said.

PAL President and COO Gilbert Santa Maria lauded the teamwork between the flag carrier and the DOH/NTF which led to what he called ‘vaccine transport in national service.”

PAL Captain Robert Serrano, assisted by First  Officers Edilberto Cayetano and Christian Cuenca, led the successful vaccine cargo mission via PR360-361 Manila-Beijing-Manila. 

This is considered a milestone flight for PAL as it marks the flag carrier’s first airlift of covid19 vaccines to Manila from an international hub and makes PAL the first local carrier to fetch and carry home much-needed vaccines for our country. 

Senator Christopher ‘Bong’ Go, Health Secretary Francisco Duque and Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian welcomed the arrival of the vaccine shipment, together with officials of the National Task Force on Vaccine Roll-Out and officials of Philippine Airlines. 

On March 29, Philippine Airlines will fly into the country another batch of Sinovac vaccines totalling 1 million doses.