Airlines In The Philippines II

[XWB_flyer]

If this was a cyber attack then this honestly is alarming development the philippines is behind when it comes to cyber warfare and defense while the US and Canada are more developed but still has some weak spooths.

[JNC03]

There are rumors that PAL will lease two 777-300ER still not confirmed for now, or will they decide what to order for their refleeting since Singapore Airshow is just 1 year away

[Arianespace]

If Thales calls our government in "closed door meeting" after the incident, then something isn't right. At an instant you should already get a clue. Thales owns the hardware and the software that enable us to see planes in the air. Whether we are the guinea pig or not doesn't matter as it is already established that we are not alone. Other countries were targeted as well but were able to fend off after the Philippine alarm. I would say ATM-CNS is still a secure system. But there will always be people that knows how to crack codes and hack someone else system.

[Arianespace]

In another news story for this year, the PR A350s in the hands of Lufthansa will also be retrofitted this May to the PR standard of 318 seats. So the six A350 will have the same seat numbers when retrofits are completed.

To those who still doesn't believed that PAL leases the 4 A350s to Lufthansa, this post might help, just like I told you so last year.

 The carrier is leasing four new A350s from Philippine Airlines (PAL) which will expand its A350 fleet to a total of 21 aircraft.
https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2021/11/04/lufthansa-to-offer-pals-1-2-1-business-class-on-leased-a350s/

[XWB_flyer]

Any info on the seat configuration of PAL A350-900 and distribution between business, premium economy and economy? If 318 seats is the new configuration I'd imagine changes they will do is removing the galley between doors 3 and 4 while adding around 21 more economy seats reducing the legroom in Y from 33" to between 31.5-32" assuming there retaining PE or alternatively converted them to Y+ with 34-36" while maintaining the 33" in Y although this will deminish the premium of W and revenue so I think the former is more likely then the latter although that will remain to be seen until refurbishment is completed!

In the short to medium term I personally think PAL will need 2 more A350-900 to allow both increased frequency between YYZ and JFK or LHR with YYZ being change to the B77W.

[frequentflier]

Congratulations!

https://blog.feedspot.com/philippines_aviation_blogs/

[frequentflier]

You previously mentioned that Airbus over engineered the A350. Am I right in assuming that the additional seats will not affect the ability of this aircraft to fly to JFK or YYZ?

[Arianespace]

Nope. In fact, Airbus is increasing seats of the A350 across the board for very long haul flights, not just PAL.

[XWB_flyer]

AeroRoutes has published about LH 318-seater A350-900 "C30 W26 Y262" starting in MAR26 2023! https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230112-lh359

[Evodesire]

I've been hearing a lot of negative feedback about PAL's J-class lately. No water in some lavatories, seats not working, food is lacking, some lavatories not working, etc. Their only saving grace are their cabin crew. Many of the complaints are coming from J-class pax flying transpac flights on the older 777s. According to some PAL crew, they feel they are losing j-class pax due to the high fares but flimsy services. Whats going on and when will these be rectified? Add also their marketing department who seem not in touch with reality. Focusing on advertising the J-class seats without realizing that they are inconsistent.

[XWB_flyer]

J class are PAL main source or revenue I feel one of the reason why they haven't or more probably taking time improve to improved there product is lacked of competition (I mean direct flights between the US and the Philippines). Due to china extended lockdown. But with that market slowly opening I think its time to start improving there onboard product both soft and hard. I think there starting with the soft product as its the less capital intensive like food and maybe soon drinks. Afterwards I'd expect them to moved to amenities such as traveling kits, blankets and pillows next before proceeding with the hard product. Although I'd also place the oldest aircraft in extended maintenance time just to fix the basic stuff like lavatories and hardware which may not be possible due to PAL lacking of sufficient wide-body aircraft for the short-term 2-4 years. As for the hard product the one I'd priortized would be the first 6 B77W as there probably starting to worn-out due to there J seats still featuring angle-lie flat seats which are no longer in production along with spare parts. I'd prefer to go with a new seat preferably with direct aisle-acess 1-2-1 maybe even reduced the number of seats from 42 to between 40 or 38. Then added Premium Economy maybe the same as LH or SQ previous model with 24 to 32 seats then Economy I'd probably maintain large percentage of regular Y seats between 296-306 seats with reduced legroom to 32" at a minimum and a new seat model either Recaro or Collins Aerospce the latter may have large seats on stand by originally intended for Aeroflot but suspended due to economic sanctions maybe could be made available to PAL instead? I'm a big fan of there Aspire and MiQ seats btw!

[JNC03]

A new startup cargo airline is in the works, according to my source their 757 landed earlier in Clark.

[Evodesire]

Hope they do something ASAP. I heard from people its really bad. There was a flight where a j-class table was broken, forcing the passenger to put his food on top of a pillow to eat. Really embarrassing, especially for an airline with exorbitant fares. I think their marketing head has to somehow wake up to reality. Its like they are brushing-off everything, leaving the cabin crew to manage the passengers. Except, the cabin crew are also stressed because yes for them, its really embarrassing.

[Arianespace]

Stanley Ng has answered this perennial problem about seats, not only in J but also Y, particularly on older fleet when he was asked last year during AIM business conference in Mandaluyong. According to him, its a big concern for the airline as passengers nowadays are very discerning about amenities and comfort which they "TRY" to address. Some remedial works were done, but there are some repairs that cannot be made for the reason that some product (referring to seat amenities) are "OUTDATED". Meaning, you can no longer repair broken ones because there is no parts available for its replacement.

In other words, some parts are available only if they are cannibalized from other non-working seats. If there is none then you have to contend with it until its retirement. That is what we are seeing now on the old fleet. Usually, some parts are still available from 10 years ago. After that period, they are hard to come by as manufacturers don't keep inventory that long. In two years time, another better technology comes out. Its like buying windows 7 computer when everyone else is running windows 10 or 11.Really impractical.

This is the reason why some airlines opt to refurbished all seats than repair series of  single broken ones if they intend to keep a fleet longer than 12 years. Its more economical and cost efficient that way.

[JNC03]

PAL can modify the seats if they are keeping their planes longer like Cebu Pacific did with their older seats that's why they preserved them, the airline just asked permission to the OEM. Or they can configure them to more economical and appropriate config for today's market.

[Arianespace]

I think the question was all about the seats of its long haul fleet, which CEB doesn't have. Seats with amenities, that is. More particularly, its 13 year old J class. If it were ordinary seats as found in the A320, or broken trays, then surely it would be easier to rectify. But if problems refer to anything but, then no choice for you but to wait for it to be retired, or if PAL intends to use it for more than 5 years, a seat refurbishments. But they are not doing it. So that means they are just waiting for its eventual retirement from service.

[frequentflier]

PAL tends to hold on to their long haul fleet for a long time, but they don’t refurbish them. Their GE A330s was never refurbished till they retired. Their 747s was refurbished once, but they didn’t stay long. The 77Ws was a good candidate for their new long haul product, but I guess they’re not focusing on this since they have other more pressing needs. Also, the departure of the 4 A350s greatly affected their long haul offerings.

[JNC03]

Old 777s will be returned to the lessor soon as their lease contract will expire, I guess PAL is just waiting for their retirement and proceed to ordering or leasing new planes

[JNC03]

I also received some complaints on their old A330s having cracked IFEs and the some seats are not functional as well like old 777Ws

[seven13]

I’m guessing you’re referring to the triclass A330. The good thing about its IFE is the screen can easily be replaced. There are spare screens inside the aircraft just in case it suddenly conk out mid-flight. Same goes with ECY, and is also applicable to A21N and A350. I’m assuming the crack does not affect the user experience (touch screen problem or viewing experience) that’s why it hasn’t been replaced yet.

Also, the J seats of the triclass and A350 can easily be turned into bed and vice versa manually unlike the recaro J seats of the 777 where there’s a high probability of getting wounded while configuring the seats in bed mode and vice versa.

When PR operated the jumbos before, there’s the infamous otso-otso (C8168), now we have C7774 taking her helm.