PAL on new growth trajectory
Philippine Airlines (PAL), the national carrier of the Philippines in Dubai, is one of the earliest airlines to establish Dubai as their hub. It is now on a mission to offer a new aircraft with new features to develop their collaboration. Genaro ‘Bong’ Ve
Philippine Airlines (PAL) flies daily Manila-Dubai flight, and five times weekly Abu Dhabi – Manila flights. In Saudi Arabia, they cover three cities — Dammam, Riyadh and Jeddah. They recently started the Jeddah operation serving three times a week. In the first quarter of 2016 they added Doha five times a week, and Kuwait four times a week expanding their route portfolio in the Middle East.
Their London flights to Heathrow airport recently changed the concourse to Terminal 3 which now offer more flexibility in terms of schedules. Furthermore the London sector was increased to four times daily due to the volume of passengers. Philippine Airlines is currently studying other European sectors such as Paris to provide better connectivity.
Velasquez said, “We have a population of about 740,000 Philippine nationals in the UAE. This market is very different from our other Middle East route because most passengers here can select their own carrier of choice. This will require more visibility in the market and to remain active in the community and support activities of the local organisations. Presence in the local community publication is also ideal. Traditional Fam trips for travel agents and industry partners were also initiated to promote our product and destination. Currently, we are promoting the ‘Philippines for Free’ program by offering free Philippine domestic tickets for every purchase of international tickets. We will also be promoting beyond the Philippines to Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne, Auckland, Papua New Guinea, Jakarta, Bali and Singapore.
“In terms of the aircraft, we are currently operating an Airbus A330 with 38 Premium and 376 Economy class seats. We provide two pieces of baggage per passenger (32 kgs each for Premium and 23 kgs each for Economy). We offer ‘My Pal Player’ downloadable free App on all personal smartphone/tablet devices so passengers may avail of the inflight entertainment streaming of movies, music and games. Thirty minutes of free Wi-Fi is also extended to all passengers. By May 2017, eight of these aircraft will be reconfigured to provide 18 Business Class, 24 Premium Class and 267 Economy Class seats to cater to a wider market segment.”
Velasquez stresses that the PAL flight schedules are very convenient. Flights depart Dubai at 7:45 pm and arrive in Manila at 9:30 am, connecting all Philippine domestic and regional flights. From Manila, our flight conveniently departs at 10:00 pm arriving Dubai at 3:30 am.
We will also be promoting beyond the Philippines to Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne, Auckland, Papua New Guinea, Jakarta, Bali and Singapore
In London, we operate daily service between Manila and Heathrow and currently studying other cities in Europe to operate.