Royal Air Philippines cancelled every flight it had on the books on 4 January, with no warning, and has since gone into liquidation. Thousands of passengers are now sitting on tickets that simply don't exist anymore.
Why Royal Air Philippines Collapsed
Manila-based, but owned by Cambodia's Lanmei Group, and honestly this had been coming for a while. International passengers fell to something like 51,800 in the first nine months of last year. That's a big drop, the airline used to carry over 100,000 a year back in 2023 and 2024. Domestic numbers hit even harder, down past 60%. Tourists from China and South Korea were basically keeping this airline running, mostly flying into Boracay and Palawan. Once that dried up a bit and the bigger Philippine carriers started taking those same routes, there wasn't much left to prop things up.
On the day, every cheap flight just got pulled, no notice at all. The website now shows a short note about refunds and some vague talk of maybe restarting, though not many people covering this think that's likely given how much debt is involved. Small fleet, mostly Airbus A320s and A321s, grounded now while liquidation runs its course.
What the Liquidation Means for Passengers
No rebooking through the airline; that's off the table. Refunds are stuck behind the liquidation process, and passengers without extra protection usually end up treated as unsecured creditors, so payment isn't guaranteed and can take months if it comes at all. Need to fly soon? You're booking elsewhere now, probably at a worse price than planned. A few routes have lost direct connectivity entirely too, Taipei to Boracay being one of them.
What UK Travellers Affected by the Collapse Should Do
Contact your card provider for a chargeback if the refund never shows up, usually faster than waiting on the liquidation to pay out anyway. Worth checking your travel insurance too, not every policy covers airline insolvency, some do, plenty don't. And if you've got a flight booked on an overlapping route, don't sit on it, prices climb fast once everyone else affected starts scrambling for the same seats.
Our Final Words
This is one of the first airline collapses of 2026, won't be the last either. Carriers that lean too hard on one or two source markets tend to be first to go when that demand shifts, worth remembering if you're holding a ticket with something smaller and less diversified.
Learn more: Step-By-Step Guide To Choosing A Travel Agency in the UK