Passengers booked on routes between Manila and the Gulf are facing disruptions after both Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific pulled scheduled services to the region, citing the deteriorating security situation tied to ongoing military activity across parts of the Middle East.
Cebu Pacific grounded four Dubai-bound flights on March 2 — two full Manila-Dubai-Manila rotations operating under flight numbers 5J 14/15 and 5J 18/19. The budget carrier indicated that further schedule changes remain possible as the situation continues to develop, and directed passengers to monitor flight status updates at cebupacificair.com/flight-status.
Philippine Airlines took a broader approach, suspending services across three Gulf destinations over two days. On March 2, cancellations covered the Manila-Doha route (PR 684), its return leg (PR 685), the Manila-Dubai round trip (PR 658/659), and the Manila-Riyadh rotation (PR 654/655). A single Doha-Manila service on March 3 — PR 685 — was also pulled.
Cebu Pacific is offering affected travellers free rebooking and Travel Fund conversion for Dubai-bound bookings from March 1 to 4, and for Riyadh routes through March 5. Both options are accessible through the airline’s Manage Booking portal up to two hours before a scheduled departure. Philippine Airlines has similarly opened rebooking and refund options for passengers on cancelled flights.
Cebu Pacific has urged passengers to keep their contact details current with the airline to ensure they receive timely notifications if additional adjustments are made to the schedule.
