PHILIPPINE Airlines Inc. (PAI) will take delivery of six new wide-body jets from Airbus in 2018, as the national flag carrier aims to further expand its North American market.
PAL Holdings Inc. President and COO Jaime J. Bautista said PAI will use the first two Airbus A350s to increase the capacity of the airliner’s Manila-New York route.
“The initial two will be used for our New York flights,” Bautista said in an interview. “We have six coming in by 2018, so the others may be used for our Los Angeles and San Francisco flights.”
From Manila, PAL operates 11 weekly flights to Los Angeles, 10 weekly flights to San Francisco and four weekly flights to New York. It also has thrice-weekly services between Cebu and Los Angeles.
The carrier uses Airbus A340s or Boeing 777s for its US flights.
The A350-900—which will have a three-class configuration, namely, Business Class, Premium Economy and Regular Economy—is capable of flying nonstop from Manila to New York on a full load. It can carry more than 300 passengers per flight.
PAL Holdings subsidiary PAI is set to receive the first two A350s in March 2018. The others will be delivered in June, September and December of the same year.
“We will also use them for our Europe flights,” Bautista told reporters. “We have entitlements to Frankfurt in Germany, Paris, Rome and Amsterdam; but we will have to decide which one to launch first.” At present, PAL only flies to one European destination, London.
The flag carrier aims to become a five-star airline in five years, with service innovations, route network expansion and fleet modernization as its flagship initiatives.