Philippine Airlines Cancels Service to Perth
Just three months after Philippine Airlines expanded its services in Australia, the airline has decided to cancel its one-stop service to Perth. Philippine Airlines had been operating the service from Manila to Perth four times per week via Darwin aboard one of the airline's Airbus A320 aircraft.
The Perth route was officially launched on June 3, 2013 but reservations have now been closed for travel from September 3, 2013 onwards. Philippine Airlines launched expanded service to Australia beyond its existing destinations of Sydney and Melbourne on June 1 when it began daily service to Darwin. Perth and Brisbane were added as tags with the aircraft continuing on to Brisbane three times per week and to Perth four times per week. Analysis by the Center for Aviation suggests that the tags have not been successful. But while the Perth leg is discontinued from September 3, the Manila-Darwin-Brisbane route will continue to operate three times per week for the time being.
Both Perth and Brisbane would have benefited from direct service to Manila rather than a one stop service via Darwin. Philippine Airlines previously operated a non-stop service between Manila and Brisbane but discontinued the service in October 2010. Center for Aviation data suggests that Brisbane Airport sees sufficient demand to support a non-stop widebody service to Manila as there has been a traditionally strong inbound market from the Philippines to Queensland. The region boasts Australia's third largest Filipino population. The Philippines is also growing in popularity as a tourism destination enhancing outbound demand. As Philippine Airlines begins to expand its global network to Europe, Brisbane could become a strong source market for connecting passengers utilizing Manila as a transit hub. This would support increased capacity in all of Philippine Airlines' Australian destinations.
However, Philippine Airlines has no intentions at this point of allocating additional wide-body capacity to Australia which means Brisbane will have to cope with its narrow-body one stop product via Darwin which is less than ideal for capturing potential transit passengers. As Philippine Airlines did not have the wide-body capacity available at the time it launched its expanded services in Australia, one stop services via Darwin using the Airbus A320 was the next feasible option.
Competition is intensifying in the much smaller market of Darwin. SilkAir launched services in 2012 ahead of PAL's entry to the market. Shortly after PAL arrived, Indonesia Air Asia resumed its Darwin operations in July 2013. Malaysia Airlines plans to enter the market on November 1, 2013. Between Darwin and Manila, Philippine Airlines must compete directly with Jetstar. But if Philippine Airlines intends to capture much of the transit traffic heading to other points in Asia, it will have many more competitors to contend with. But so far, the airline has been able to set itself apart by offering lower fares in what has previously been a high fare market.
While Perth has already been dropped and the future of Brisbane as a tag in PAL's network remains uncertain, it appears that Philippine Airlines will continue to serve Darwin. PAL has been successful in attracting Darwin's smaller Filipino community and attracting transit passengers connecting to points beyond Manila particularly to places like Japan. Darwin's large community of Japanese expatriate workers gives Philippine Airlines a strong opportunity to capture a good portion of the transit market. Manila is well situated geographically to serve as a north-south Asian hub but until infrastructure improves, protectionist government policy subsides, and the fortunes of PAL stabilize, it may be a while until Manila is able to claim its rightful title as the premier North-South Asian hub.
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| Copyright Photo: Angelo Agcamaran/PPSG |
Both Perth and Brisbane would have benefited from direct service to Manila rather than a one stop service via Darwin. Philippine Airlines previously operated a non-stop service between Manila and Brisbane but discontinued the service in October 2010. Center for Aviation data suggests that Brisbane Airport sees sufficient demand to support a non-stop widebody service to Manila as there has been a traditionally strong inbound market from the Philippines to Queensland. The region boasts Australia's third largest Filipino population. The Philippines is also growing in popularity as a tourism destination enhancing outbound demand. As Philippine Airlines begins to expand its global network to Europe, Brisbane could become a strong source market for connecting passengers utilizing Manila as a transit hub. This would support increased capacity in all of Philippine Airlines' Australian destinations.
However, Philippine Airlines has no intentions at this point of allocating additional wide-body capacity to Australia which means Brisbane will have to cope with its narrow-body one stop product via Darwin which is less than ideal for capturing potential transit passengers. As Philippine Airlines did not have the wide-body capacity available at the time it launched its expanded services in Australia, one stop services via Darwin using the Airbus A320 was the next feasible option.
Competition is intensifying in the much smaller market of Darwin. SilkAir launched services in 2012 ahead of PAL's entry to the market. Shortly after PAL arrived, Indonesia Air Asia resumed its Darwin operations in July 2013. Malaysia Airlines plans to enter the market on November 1, 2013. Between Darwin and Manila, Philippine Airlines must compete directly with Jetstar. But if Philippine Airlines intends to capture much of the transit traffic heading to other points in Asia, it will have many more competitors to contend with. But so far, the airline has been able to set itself apart by offering lower fares in what has previously been a high fare market.
While Perth has already been dropped and the future of Brisbane as a tag in PAL's network remains uncertain, it appears that Philippine Airlines will continue to serve Darwin. PAL has been successful in attracting Darwin's smaller Filipino community and attracting transit passengers connecting to points beyond Manila particularly to places like Japan. Darwin's large community of Japanese expatriate workers gives Philippine Airlines a strong opportunity to capture a good portion of the transit market. Manila is well situated geographically to serve as a north-south Asian hub but until infrastructure improves, protectionist government policy subsides, and the fortunes of PAL stabilize, it may be a while until Manila is able to claim its rightful title as the premier North-South Asian hub.
One problem has been that PAL used A320's on the route, while other carriers offer wide body aircraft. On the longer haul flights, the A320, configured as it is for PAL, is not comfortable even in business class. The seats are too cramped together.
ReplyDeleteUpgrade the planes to a 757 or a330
ReplyDeleteproblem was it was very expensive compared to other airlines
ReplyDelete