Filipina gives birth on Dubai flight: Newborn 'Haven' to fly free for lifetime

A pregnant woman who was due in October, unexpectedly gave birth while she was flying from Dubai to the Philippines.

She gave birth to a premature but healthy baby mid-air, forcing the plane to carry out an emergency landing in Hyderabad, India.

Cebu Pacific Air celebrated the birth of first baby in-flight.

In a Facebook post the airline said she said, "To celebrate, we're giving her 1 million GETGO PH points, which have no expiry and may be shared with her family."

The 1,000,000 GetGo Points would pay for almost all of the air trips the baby girl would go on to take in her lifetime.

The Filipina mother's due delivery date was two months ahead. And the sudden contractions while she was flying in the plane, left everyone aghast and the flight attendants also panicked.

Luckily, there were a couple of nurses on board with whose help, the baby was safely delivered.

The flight attendants had quickly turned the cabin into a makeshift delivery room.

The incident was shared on Facebook by a fellow passenger named Missy Berberabe Umandal. "She was already crowning, so she was brought to the more spacious area in front of the plane. We only heard one semi-loud screech, and a few seconds later, there were tinier, cute screeches, and it was when we knew the baby was born. Luckily, she only had to push ONCE. Moments later, the woman got up to go back to her seat, baby in arms (mighty strong, I might say). There were 2 other babies with us in the front row, and one of the passengers had a suitcase full of infant clothes and necessities, which could not have come at a better time," she wrote.

Pic: Cebu Pacific Air/Facebook

The president and CEO Lance Gokongwei said, "We are happy that both mother and daughter are doing well, and would like to commend our flight and cabin crew for handling the situation with utmost professionalism and efficiency. We also express our sincerest gratitude to the two volunteer nurses who helped ensure the baby's safe delivery."

Baby girl 'Haven' was born approximately four hours after the departure of flight 5J015 from the Dubai International Airport last Sunday, August 14, 2016.

The flight was then diverted to Hyderabad, to ensure the mother and baby received medical assistance.

Both mother and baby, who was born premature at 32 weeks, are being assisted by CEB's Customer Care team.

Missy Berberabe Umandal also provided a very important footnote about the child's citizenship: "There is an existing rule of when a child is born mid-air, the baby will hold citizenship of the country the plane lands on next. While this rule still applies in USA, it has been revoked in most countries, including the Philippines. Instead, this particular baby's birthplace is India, but she will still carry a Philippine passport (since Cebu Pacific is a Philippine airline). Her time of birth also follows India Standard time."