No less than Her Excellency Hjayceelyn M. Quintana, Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines to the UAE presented a token of appreciation to Adnan Kazim, Chief Commercial Officer, Emirates as our way of saying “Thank you” to the airline for its efforts in helping Filipino citizens return home.
More than 27,000 Filipinos, stranded across the globe due to travel restrictions and border closures as a result of the pandemic, have been safely returned to the Philippines as well as other countries where they reside, including the UAE, on Emirates flights between Dubai and cities around the world.
In the gift exchange, Emirates also presented an Emirates A380 aircraft model, as a symbol of its continuous support to the Filipino community and gratitude to its people over the years. The UAE is home to more than 800,000 Filipinos living and working in the country.
It may be recalled that Emirates operated a one-off A380 flight to Clark International Airport (CRK) to mark its 30 years of service to the Philippines. In 2014, the Emirates A380 made a one-off trip to Manila, marking its first arrival in the Philippines. That 2014 A380 EK flight to Manila was flown by the first Filipino Airbus A380 pilot, Capt. Franklyn Desiderio.
In the three-month period from April to June, Emirates operated over 200 repatriation flights to nearly 40 cities in its network, including flights on special routes organized in conjunction with diplomatic missions to fly their citizens home.