PAL to operate Cebu – LA flights beginning March 2016

Philippine Airlines will launch non-stop flights between Cebu and Los Angeles beginning March 15, 2016 as part of the expansion of the flag carrier’s route operations to the United States.

The start of the new service will commence on a milestone date - PAL’s 75th founding anniversary.

The thrice weekly service will utilize the 254-seater bi-class Airbus A340 with 36 lie-flat seats on business class and 218 seats on regular economy.

“Our customers in the Visayas and Mindanao have long clamored for direct flights between Cebu and the US due to the travel convenience this will bring. One can simply take a short hop to Cebu from any point in the Visayas and Mindanao and connect to Los Angeles, instead of flying all the way to Manila,” PAL President and Chief Operating Officer Jaime J. Bautista explained.

“Foreign tourists and our kababayans in the United States will benefit from the flexibility of choice in terms of flights to and from the Philippines," he added.

The flag carrier currently operates 35 weekly flights to mainland USA and two US territories combined. From Manila, PAL operates eleven weekly flights to Los Angeles, ten weekly flights to San Francisco and four weekly flights to New York. PAL has five weekly flights each to Guam and Honolulu. The new US service from Cebu will bring to 38 the total number of frequencies to the United States per week.

The new service to the US brings to 34 the total number of international flights operating out of Mactan International Airport, considered a major hub next to the NAIA terminals in Manila.

PAL Cebu’s international operations consist of thrice weekly flights to Nagoya, daily flights to Osaka and Seoul as well as fourteen weekly flights to Narita. The airline’s domestic operations between Cebu and Bacolod, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Iloilo, Tacloban and Manila total 95 flights a week.