PAL takes off with new routes, more flights, and expanded fleet this year
The 2019 expansion plans of flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) have taken off. In the next few months, the country’s first and only 4-star global airline must have already launched its new Asian routes, increased its flights across the United States, Australia, and Asia, and received its new set of aircraft.
PAL President and COO Jaime J. Bautista said the airline’s fleet expansion program will continue in the years ahead. This year, he said, PAL expects to receive six more new aircraft including two A350s, two A321neos, and two Next-Generation Q400 turbopops. As of the end of 2018, PAL had a total of 97 airplanes.
For Asian routes, PAL is targeting to launch direct flights to Hanoi (Vietnam), Phnom Penh (Cambodia) and New Delhi (India) this summer.
This latest expansion by the flag carrier creates the first direct air link between the Philippines and the capital of Cambodia, expands PAL’s existing Vietnam network, and re-establishes a historic link to India.
“Philippine Airlines' strategic vision is to make the Philippines a true gateway to Asia. We are the Southeast Asian airline with the biggest and most extensive network of direct flights to the US and Canada, and thus we can be the leader in carrying North American travelers to India, Cambodia and Vietnam via our Manila hub,” said President and COO Jaime J. Bautista.
“We will leverage Manila’s excellent geographical location as an ideal stopover point for people flying to Southeast and South Asia from the East and West Coasts of North America,” he added.
As of now, PAL operates 43 weekly flights nonstop from six North American destinations: New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, San Francisco, Honolulu and Vancouver.
Flights between Manila and Hanoi will operate four times starting March 31, 2019, while flights between Manila and Phnom Penh will operate five times weekly starting April 1, 2019.
PAL will maintain its current 8 weekly flights between Manila and Vietnam’s commercial hub, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), a city served by the flag carrier since the mid-1980s.
Meanwhile, the long-heralded return of PAL to the Indian market will provide a welcome boost to the tourism industries of both the Philippines and India.
The airline previously flew the Manila – Delhi route from 2011 to 2013, with most flights making costly stopovers in Bangkok due to the limited range of the Airbus A320 aircraft then in use. PAL also served Kolkata (Calcutta) as a key stopover point on the flag carrier’s multi-stop ManilaEurope services in the 1950s.
Subject to final slot and operational clearances with the Indian authorities, PAL is targeting April 2019 as the start of the New Delhi service.
The new route is slated to run four times weekly nonstop between Manila and New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport using brand-new Airbus A321neo aircraft.
“India is the air travel growth market of the future and a new economic power, so our link to Delhi improves the Philippines’ connectivity with the global economy. We are enthusiastic about our new Delhi route because, for the first time, we have the right-sized aircraft for the Indian market," Bautista said.
For further growth, PAL is also increasing the number of weekly flights to certain destinations this summer. This includes the Cebu to Nagoya; Manila to Bangkok; Manila to Kuala Lumpur; Manila to Jakarta; Manila to Los Angeles; Manila to San Francisco; Manila to New York JFK; Manila to Toronto; Manila to Sydney; Manila to Brisbane; Manila to Taipei; and Manila to
Doha.