Philippine Airlines Adjusts London Flight Schedule, Postpones Port Moresby Launch

National flag carrier Philippine Airlines has adjusted the scheduling of its four weekly flights from Manila to London's Heathrow Airport. The scheduling adjustment is designed to benefit passengers by enhancing connection opportunities across the Philippine Airlines network. 

Copyright Photo: Angelo Agcamaran/PPSG

When Philippine Airlines launched service to London in November 2013, the old flight schedule limited the number of domestic flight connections available on the outbound flight as it departed Manila at around 8:00am. 

This meant that passengers connecting from some of the nation's most popular tourist destinations like Caticlan and Puerto Princesa would be forced to stay overnight in Manila the night prior to the flight. Connections were only available on major domestic routes arriving from Cebu and Davao.

In addition, the old schedule was not suitable for international connections from Australia or any of the carrier's regional international destinations as no flights arrived in the early morning to connect to the London bound flight. This prevented Philippine Airlines from capturing some of the Australia to London passenger traffic. 

However, the new London flight times, which have already taken effect under PAL's summer schedule, has created opportunities once again that did not exist under the old flight schedule. Departure from Manila now takes place during a convenient early-afternoon slot, as opposed to the previous early morning departure.

Flight PR720 departs Manila at 1:00pm on a weekly basis every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. This enables passengers to connect to the London flight from various regional and domestic airports. The flight arrives at London Heathrow at 9:00pm. The return flight, PR721, now departs London late in the night at 10:50pm, as opposed to the previous mid-afternoon departure. The flight arrives in Manila at 8:05pm on the following day. 

According to Philippine Airlines President Jaime Bautista, the scheduling change is just the beginning as PAL seeks to improve its London operations. "The change in departure times better suits our customers, especially those connecting from our provincial services," said Bautista. "This is just one of the many service enhancements passengers can expect as we continue to improve and build up our London operation." Bautista added that the new schedule also enables passengers to enjoy a full day in London prior to departing on the return flight back to Manila. 

Passengers travelling on-board the A340-300 aircraft between Manila and London can take advantage of various on board services offered by Philippine Airlines including In-Air internet, mobile service, and wireless in-flight entertainment. As no personal seat back televisions are offered on the aircraft, flight attendants are able to loan iPads to those that have not brought their own device.

Meanwhile, Philippine Airlines will once again delay the launch of its new route from Manila to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. It remains unclear why the carrier has repeatedly postponed the launch of the service, originally scheduled to begin on June 12, 2015.

Although further changes remain a possibility, the Port Moresby flights are now set to begin on October 25, 2015 at the start of PAL's winter schedule. Flights will be operated twice weekly utilizing an Airbus A320-200. Flights will depart Manila at 2:10am and arrive in Port Moresby at 9:20am. The return service will depart Port Moresby at 10:10am and arrive in Manila at 1:20pm.