AirAsia Philippines flight flew for 14 hours from India to Manila, its longest flight to date over the weekend, to bring home the 125 Filipino sea crew from India.
The chartered flight, which flew from Gujarat, India to Manila was coordinated by five local manning agencies whose seamen had been stranded in Bhavnagar for weeks.
AirAsia Flight Z2 115 departed Manila at 7:05 AM (local time) on July 18. It left Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Gujarat, India, with the sea crew on July 19 at 9:00 AM (local time). It arrived in Manila on the same day at 9:28 PM (local time).
Given the length of the flight, the aircraft had a scheduled technical stop to refuel at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Bengal, India.
“We are pleased to have not only mounted the longest flight ever for AirAsia Philippines but, at the same time, helped repatriate Filipinos overseas. We know how much they have longed to come home and we are honored to be part of their safe return to the Philippines,” AirAsia Philippines CEO Ricky Isla said.
The special recovery flight was facilitated by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Regent Travel Corporation.
Prior to this flight, AirAsia Philippines’ longest round-trip flight was between Manila and Yangon on June 12, with a duration of eight hours. It was a special recovery flight carrying 152 Myanmar nationals from Manila.
The average duration of Z2 commercial international one-way flights is three hours.
AirAsia Philippines has mounted nearly 400 special recovery and cargo flights since March 16, flying over 25,000 passengers and over 600,000 kilograms of cargo to nearly 30 domestic and international destinations.
These special recovery flights are in response to requests from various organizations, including local and international government agencies.
