Philippine Airlines: Flights to France Coming

Philippine Airlines will soon be able to launch a second route to Europe after France and the Philippines concluded a successful round of air negotiations.

philippine airlines france
Copyright Photo: Nico Reonisto/PPSG
According to the Civil Aeronautics Board, officials just completed three days of talks that will enable the country's flag carrier to restore flights to Paris after an absence of sixteen years. "We agreed on seven flights per week between the Philippines and France," said Carmelo Arcilla, Executive Director of the Civil Aeronautics Board. "Seven is the limit that the French are willing to agree for now, although we were asking for at least 14."

The last time Philippine Airlines flew to Paris was in 1998 when it operated four flights per week. Flights were cancelled due to the Asian Financial Crisis. Four flights were the maximum allowable number of weekly flights under the old air services agreement that was signed in 1969. In addition to increasing the current limit up to seven weekly flights allowing for a new daily service to commence, France also agreed to third-country code sharing for Air France and KLM on the Paris-Manila route via Amsterdam. 

"This means that Air France can operate from Paris to Manila via Amsterdam, using KLM as the operating carrier," said Arcilla. "This means possible additional flights from Europe that will support travel and tourism." KLM currently operates a service between Amsterdam and Manila via Taipei. Additional flights would give Filipino travellers more options for travelling to Paris to enjoy the many attractions in the City of Light.

philippine airlines flights to france

Arcilla added that Philippine carriers may partner with any Southeast or East Asian airline for its third country code sharing rights on flights to Paris. Meanwhile, Philippine Airlines continues to look at launching more flights to Europe this year with a number of destinations being considered including Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Rome. The Philippines and Italy signed a new air service agreement recently allowing fourteen flights per week between the two nations. 

The renewed interest in Europe comes after the European Union lifted a ban that prevented Philippine Airlines from mounting flights to the region due to significant air safety concerns. Philippine Airlines restored flights to London Heathrow in November 2012. The lifting of the ban was only conditional and other carriers from the Philippines are still not permitted to mount any flights to Europe. Cebu Pacific has a pending application before the European Union to lift the ban preventing the country's largest low-cost carrier from serving the region. A decision on Cebu Pacific's application is expected within the first six months of 2014. 

13 comments:

  1. One has to wonder just how much traffic there is between Manila and Paris to warrant such a service. And will passengers be willing to switch to PAL's older, less comfortably configured planes when they can fly in modern comfort on KLM, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and the Gulf carriers.

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    1. Modern comfort like KLM??? This is absolutely hilarious! Believe me, KLM is as bad as PAL.

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    2. Pal Is Much Better Than KLM. Based On My Own Opinion

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  2. PAL will use it's newly ordered aircrafts, as part of its modernization plan, to these European routes. London is the first example and with hundred of thousands of Filipinos living in Europe, it will not be hard to imagine that the future of PAL in this part of the world, is bright...GO PAL!

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  3. I dont care about gulf carries,cx,sg,tg, not even their fantasy airport,all i want is direct flight pal has to offer.i hate to transfer and wait for hours and hours and hours......pari pareho lang lahat,LUMILIPAD period.

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    1. korek k dyan...d fact is..its a direct flight...care ko sa iba na super mahal..comfortable k nmn sa pal..

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  4. Which means that Philippine Airlines will code sharing to Southeast or East Asian airlines such as Singapore Airlines, THAI, Malaysia Airlines, Air China, and others for Paris instead of using their own aircrafts?

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  5. who is first frankfurt or amsterdam?

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  6. air france should be returned too. if pal will start paris to manila route

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  7. Pilots must have a profound understanding of weather patterns to make informed decisions. AV8 Prep private pilot license

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