Airlines In The Philippines III

[Arianespace]

We break the news here before. Here is the official one

Australian budget carrier Jetstar plans to enter the Philippine market in yet another signal of foreign airlines’ growing interest to launch in the country.

The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) said it is set to hear on June 26 a petition filed by Jetstar Airways to mount flights to Perth and Brisbane from Manila and Cebu, respectively.

CAB executive director Carmelo Arcilla said Jetstar wants approval for its filing for a foreign air carrier’s permit (FACP) to operate scheduled flights between the Philippines and Australia.

“Based on its application for FACP, (Jetstar) intends to operate Perth-Manila and Brisbane-Cebu routes. Hearing on the application for a FACP of Jetstar is still ongoing,” Arcilla told The STAR.

If approved, the flights will operate three times a week, with Jetstar assigning 232-seater Airbus A321neos. Jetstar hopes to begin both flights by Nov. 27 in time for peak travel during the Christmas season.

https://www.philstar.com/business/2025/06/10/2449337/australias-jetstar-launch-flights-philippines

On this route PAL has the better plane. It always had better planes for its flight eastwards to Oz and Japan, its more premium market.

[JNC03]

After six years a PALExpress A320ceo with registry RP-C8614 will be reactivated again, the scheduled test flight will happen tomorrow June 11 5:30AM. PAL needs to revive this jet because it is leased

Its last flight happened last January 26, 2019 from Cebu to Manila



Present photo (June 10)



For the A321ceo reconfiguration, here are the planes parked in Manila and one of them might be undergoing reconfiguration

9916 since Feb 12 (leased from Haitong BBAM)
9925 since May 26 (leased from Haitong UniTrust)
9918 since Jun 2  (leased from Avolon)

[filipinoavgeek]

It was able to survive six years without being used, in Manila's weather?

[JNC03]

Jetstar Asia will operate on a progressively reduced schedule over the next seven weeks, with its final day of service on 31 July 2025.

The decision only affects Jetstar Asia’s intra-Asia operations, based in Singapore. It does not impact Jetstar Airways’ domestic and international operations in Australia and New Zealand, nor Jetstar Japan’s services. Jetstar Airways will continue to operate into Asia from Australia, including key destinations in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, and South Korea.

Customers holding bookings on cancelled Jetstar Asia flights will be offered full refunds, and the Group will work to reaccommodate passengers on other airlines where possible.

All impacted employees will receive redundancy benefits and employment support services, and Qantas is actively seeking opportunities for affected staff within the Group and with partner airlines.

Singapore will remain a critical international hub for Qantas, currently its third-largest outside Australia. Through Singapore, Qantas offers access to almost 20 codeshare and interline airline partners servicing broader Asia.

Jetstar Asia’s 13 mid-life Airbus A320s will be redeployed into domestic and regional markets in Australia and New Zealand


https://www.airlineratings.com/articles/qantas-to-close-jetstar-asia

[JNC03]

I hope the slots of Jetstar Asia will be allocated to Jetstar Australia flights to Manila

[Solblanc]

JNC03 wrote

I hope the slots of Jetstar Asia will be allocated to Jetstar Australia flights to Manila

For sure the Qantas group is going to bullhog the 3K slots. Perhaps they’ll retime BNE or add other ports. JQ Per-MNL is only gonna be 3x weekly.  

Meanwhile, the loss of 3k means a capacity drop in MNL-SIN. I can imagine that we’ll see existing players try to step up

[seven13]

Solblanc wrote

JNC03 wrote

I hope the slots of Jetstar Asia will be allocated to Jetstar Australia flights to Manila

For sure the Qantas group is going to bullhog the 3K slots. Perhaps they’ll retime BNE or add other ports. JQ Per-MNL is only gonna be 3x weekly.  

Meanwhile, the loss of 3k means a capacity drop in MNL-SIN. I can imagine that we’ll see existing players try to step up

SQ is already doing 5th rotation onboard SQ913/914

[JNC03]

Scoot is sending big aircraft here like 789 and A321neo

[JNC03]

After the revival of 8614, a PAL A320 with registry
RP-C8620 will return to Manila because its gears cannot be retracted

[Arianespace]

It cant fly because it got no engines. It took them so long to do maintenance taking into account covid, chapter 11, and limited funds. Budget for overhaul was only approved last year.

[Arianespace]

They are already earmarked for MEL

[filipinoavgeek]

I read something about tropical weather being bad for stored planes. Like it would take a lot of money and effort to put them back in the air. It's one reason, for example, why Thai retired their A380s, since they were kept in Bangkok and U-Tapao for so long and the Thai weather wasn't kind to them.

[Arianespace]

What can you do when you have no money to bring them to oz. I think additional maintenance expense is already added into the equation when considering tropical climate storage. Even the Air Asia tail at Andrews is a PAL plane. They have the same problem. Engines.

[JNC03]

The aircraft is approaching 17 years old already, will PAL still use it for a year or two?

[JNC03]

AirAsia is in advanced discussions to place an order for at least 100 Airbus jets at next week's Paris Airshow, a deal likely to mark the introduction to its fleet of the planemaker's smallest jet, the A220.

Malaysia-based low-cost carrier AirAsia operates an all-Airbus fleet and has previously said it was looking to add smaller planes to its fleet for regional routes.

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/airasia-close-buying-least-100-airbus-jets-shift-a220-sources-say-2025-06-11/

[JNC03]

Reuters is now leaking some of the orders that will be made during Paris Airshow next week

As of now
VietJet - up to 100 A321neo
AirAsia - up to 100 A220
Vietnam Airlines - up to 50 737max
Riyadh Air - 25 A350-1000
Royal Air Maroc - mix of Boeing and Airbus jets


These orders is a preview of what PAL might face in terms of lines for a order, yes it can get from lessors but some of those orders will partially come from lessors too.

[Arianespace]

It will go for another 6 years at most.

Airbus A320 is designed for a service life of approximately 60,000 pressurization cycles or flight cycles, that is equivalent to 20 years of flying time, if you use it sparingly to about 4-5 flights a day to 8 years if you are AirAsia which fly them to 10 cycles daily.

Most airlines operate their A320s on average flight cycle (FC) times of about 1.5 flight hours (FH), (distance between MNL and Mindanao flights) and accumulate about 2,800 FH per year. Its drawback is the shorter flight hours (MNL and Luzon and Visayas flights) as the FC would still be the same for short flight causing it high utilization rate which also doubly reduces its lifespan. That is the reason why CEB plane is replaced every 12 years due to high utilization rate as compared to PAL where retirement is placed at 20 years.

Here is a good read for that question. You could learn a lot

A320 Maintenance Analysis and Budget

 

[JNC03]

Six years is a good time for selecting a replacement

[JNC03]

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[filipinoavgeek]

By better service, is this referring to PAL Cargo, or PAL as a whole?