Flights to Paris: Was Philippine Airlines Dreaming?

It may have started off as a dream or perhaps Ramon Ang had enjoyed too many sips of San Miguel Beer, but it is now becoming clear that direct flights between the Philippines and France will not be taking off any time soon. In a recent statement, the French Ambassador to the Philippines advised that in spite of a new air service agreement between the two countries, there is an insufficient amount of traffic to make direct flights between France and the Philippines viable. 

Copyright Photo: Angelo Agcamaran/PPSG

According Gilles Garachon, Franch Ambassador to the Philippines, more tourists between the two countries are needed to set up direct flights between Paris and Manila. "The number of French tourists in the Philippines is not enough," said Garachon. "Now that the blacklist of the Philippine Airlines has been lifted, there is nothing preventing having direct flights on both sides." He added that everything is ready for direct flights, but the problem is commercial. "The flights need to be full. If the flights are half empty, companies will lose money," added Garachon.

The news comes as no surprise to industry analysts, particularly the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, which referred to Ramon Ang's plan to expand to a number of cities in Europe with direct flights as "overly ambitious." In a report, the aviation think tank had advised Philippine Airlines to ditch Europe and concentrate in the United States, where there is a far less threatening competitive environment and far more Filipinos.

The United States is currently home to more than 3 million Filipinos, compared to less than 700,000 in all of Europe combined. It seemed like an illogical plan at the time when it was first revealed by Ramon Ang given that the former PAL President wanted to fly to the same number of destinations in Europe that the carrier flew to in the United States in spite of the European population of Filipinos being four times smaller than the US. In addition, Philippine Airlines would not have to contend with stiff competition from Gulf carriers and Southeast Asian carriers on US routes.

When the route to London, PAL's first European destination in more than a decade, was eventually launched in November 2013, it did indeed get off to a rocky start with seat loads often less than 50 percent. Before exiting Philippine Airlines, Ramon Ang stated that all of the carrier's routes were profitable except the London route. This realization is likely what caused him to rethink Europe and put the brakes on expansion. 

Jamie Bautista, the returning President of Philippine Airlines, was highly critical of several decisions made by the Ang administration including the acquisition of an excessive number of aircraft, which Bautista said, "lacked deliberation." Bautista is taking a much more sensible approach to expansion in Europe, exploring code-sharing opportunities with new Philippine Airlines partner, Etihad. However, Bautista has noted that the performance of the London flight is beginning to take a turn for the better and hopes to increase frequency to daily flights in the future. 

As far as France is concerned, the French Ambassador revealed that only 50,000 tourists from France are currently visiting the Philippines annually. That is in addition to "almost the same figure" of Filipinos heading to France. Garachon added that this is not enough to establish direct flights in spite of the new air services agreement between the two countries.

In comparison, the Philippines attracted nearly 60,000 visitors from the United Kingdom in the first quarter of 2013. But even with those higher market figures, PAL still struggled initially in London. Philippine Airlines is banking on the convenience of the direct flight to London to boost numbers between the two countries. The United Kingdom is home to one of the ten largest populations of overseas Filipinos with nearly 200,000 residing in the country. It has the largest overseas Filipino population in Europe. 

However, France is still far off the estimated 250,000 round-trip air passengers that travelled between London and Manila in 2012. It is estimated that currently 47,000 and 65,000 Filipinos are presently living in France with as many as 33,000 living in the country illegally. Paris is home to a relatively small Filipino community. 

In spite of that, the French Embassy in the Philippines remains committed to doubling the number of tourists between the two countries through advertisements. "The Philippines has a lot of Asian tourists, but you don't have much western tourists compared to other countries in Southeast Asia," said Garachon. "The planes need to be filled with not only OFW's, but also tourists. There is a huge room for increasing tourism."