Philippine Airlines (PAL) will temporarily halt its “economically unsustainable” flights to and from Kuwait from May 16.

In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the airline noted that since earlier this year it has repatriated, free of charge, almost 900 “distressed” Filipino workers in response to president Rodrigo Duterte’s calls to assist overseas foreign workers living in the country.

“With the repatriation effort now complete, the ongoing slowdown in OFW travel to Kuwait has made regular operations economically unsustainable, hence the need to suspend these flights to Kuwait until such time that market conditions on the route improve,” the statement said.

The airline noted that PAL will continue to serve Kuwait through flights to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam.

Passengers affected by the suspension of flights are being given the option to reroute their flights through Abu Dhabi or Dubai and then through other airlines to Kuwait or Manila. PAL will shoulder the cost of flights on other airlines who avail of this option.

Alternatively, PAL can refund their unused tickets, with refund, reroute and rebooking charges waived.