Philippine Airlines Reveals Schedules for New Aircraft

As Philippine Airlines (PAL) prepares to receive new Airbus A350-900 (A359) and additional Airbus A321neo aircraft this year, more details have emerged as to the flights and routes these new planes will be used on.

Philippine Airlines A321neo
Copyright Photo: Airbus, Photo Courtesy: Philippine Airlines

PAL commenced A321neo operations to Brisbane on July 2 2018.  The service flies four times a week.  PR221 departs Manila every Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 11.30 pm and arrives in Brisbane at 9.20 am the following day.  The return flight, PR222, leaves Brisbane at 11.00 am on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, and lands in Manila at 4.50 pm.  

On September 10 2018, PAL will commence operations between Manila and Sapporo's New Chitose airport.  Sapporo, the capital of Japan's northernmost island Hokkaido, is one of the new destinations for the A321neo.  The service operates every Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  PR406, which flies from Manila and Sapporo, departs at 4.50 am and arrives at 11.35 am.  The return leg, PR405, departs Sapporo at 1.05 pm and lands back in Manila at 5.40 pm.  

PAL President Jaime Bautista said the flag carrier decided to add the flight to Japan's northernmost island because of increasing demand for such services.

Meanwhile, Routesonline has revealed that the A359s will be deployed to New York and London in time for the winter schedule.  The A359 will replace Boeing 777-300ER (77W) operations on PAL's existing London flights (outbound PR720 and return PR721) effective October 28 2018.  The flight will operate daily.  

In addition, PR126 and PR127, which fly to and from New York respectively, will eliminate the stopover at Vancouver effective October 29 2018.  The A350 will be used from the start, instead of the previously-scheduled 77W.  In addition, the service will also increase its frequencies to five weekly flights.  PR126 departs Manila at 8 pm everyday except on Fridays and Sundays and arrives at New York's John F Kennedy airport at 11.15 pm.  The return leg, PR127, operates everyday except Mondays and Saturdays, leaves New York at 1.45 am, and lands in Manila at 7.15 am the following day.  

Routesonline has also revealed that from July 20 to August 31, PAL will use the A350 on selected flights between Manila and Hong Kong (PR300/301 and PR306/307).  Deploying new long-haul aircraft to short-haul destinations shortly after delivery is normal to allow crew to familiarise themselves with their features.    

PAL has on order six A359 aircraft from Airbus with an option to order up to six more.  Four A359s are expected to join the PAL fleet before the year ends.  The first of these planes will be ferried to Manila on July 14.  The A359s come with 30 fully flat-bed business class seats, a premium economy class cabin, and in-flight entertainment (IFE) monitors and WiFi across all classes.  PAL is also expecting 19 A321neos on top of the two that have been delivered.  Like the A359s, the A321neos have flat-bed business class seats, as well as IFE and WiFi across all classes.  

Sources: Philippine Airlines, Businessworld, Routesonline [1] [2]