Airlines In The Philippines III

[Arianespace]

filipinoavgeek wrote

I've read rumors that IndiGo is interested in launching MNL too, but I'm not sure from where or if those rumors even have merit. It wouldn't surprise me if PR also returns to India, probably when their new planes arrive.

India to Offer Free E-Visas for Filipino Tourists


The announcement was made on August 5 by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s state visit to New Delhi. According to the Philippine News Agency, the initiative is India’s way of reciprocating the Philippines’ recent decision to allow Indian nationals visa-free entry for up to 14 days.

Currently, Filipino travelers pay nearly P6,000 for an Indian tourist visa, including fees and banking charges. While the exact implementation date for the free e-visa policy hasn’t been disclosed, the move is expected to ease travel for Filipinos and boost two-way tourism.

According to the Philippine News Agency, Air India is set to launch nonstop flights from Manila to Delhi starting October 2025, with budget airline IndiGo also eyeing the same route.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) confirmed ongoing discussions with Air India, noting that technical and procedural requirements for launching the route are already in motion.

Meanwhile, flag carrier Philippine Airlines is also looking into entering the India market, but is currently grappling with aircraft supply issues. In a report by The Philippine Star in May 2024, former PAL president Stanley Ng said that launching India routes remains part of the airline’s long-term network plans once fleet availability improves.

From January to August 2024, 55,836 Indian travelers visited the Philippines, which is up 17 percent from the previous year, according to Inquirer.

Translating to about 85,000 Indians and 15,000 Filipinos per year. Small, but not bad. Enough for daily 787 flights, assuming everyone flies 1 airline. Meanwhile, Chinese still comes in droves 10x over.

[filipinoavgeek]

It wouldn't surprise me if Hawaiian (not Alaska) returns, this time with a PR partnership, since Alaska seems to want to use Hawaiian more for the Asian market. It would be ironic if that happened since the reason Hawaiian left in the first place was because PR undercut them.

[Arianespace]

HAL and PAL are already partners on the HNL-MNL vv sector with PAL as operating airline. The arrangement is similar to CPA on HKG-CEB, for which reason PAL never bothers to fly its own metal. Clearly, MNL has lower cost of living than that of HNL. They were also bleeding, yet were subsidized by mainland operations.

[Gustavo J Oppenheimer]

https://www.flightradar24.com/PAL001/3ba182a1

President returns from India via PR 001

[Gustavo J Oppenheimer]

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1256173

MANILA – Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Christina Frasco expressed "strong government support" for IndiGo Airlines’ planned expansion into the Philippine market, including the launch of direct flights from India to Manila and Cebu next year.

In a news release on Friday, the DOT said Frasco, who also serves as vice chair of the Civil Aeronautics Board, met with IndiGo senior vice president Vinay Malhotra as part of the delegation of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s state visit.

-----

Malhotra said the carrier’s growing fleet, including one new aircraft added weekly and over 1,000 more on order, positions it to introduce long-haul aircraft capable of serving the Philippines’ key gateways.

“The Philippines is definitely on our radar,” Malhotra said

[Arianespace]

justhorace wrote

I still disagree. And I think CAB was pressured to issue a ruling given the media mileage this issue had received and the public pronouncements made by Secretary Dizon. Anyway, Air Asia Move can still appeal.

Air Asia has an elaborate corporate structure, and Move is a separate corporate person that is in a different line of business and is not the authorized agent of Air Asia in a sense that would put it under the jurisdiction of CAB. At least that's how I understand it. There was a deliberate business decision on Air Asia's to create Move and our institutions should have a clear-cut scope of powers to enable certainty in business and industry. This is another instance where intrusion by another government agency isn't helping as it will create confusion for OTAs. I still think that DTI was the right agency to hear this case, but the whole issue was preempted by the DOTR Secretary's public comments.

Anyway, I don't have skin in this game, but it's an interesting story to follow as it will have repercussions for OTAs.

Just to complete the story, CAB Executive Director Atty. Carmello Arcilla said AirAsia Move was not the only platform that was fined.

"P6 million para AirAsia Move, P4 million doon sa Agoda at Trip.com, P1 million," Arcilla said.

The CAB stressed that displaying fares exceeding the regulatory ceiling--even though they are unavailable for booking or will eventually result in transaction reversals--misleads consumers into believing that such fares are legitimate.

"Hindi po tayo kontra sa online travel agencies. Nire-recognize natin ang kanilang kanilang importansya sa pagpaplago ng ating air travel industry dahil ang online travel agencies meron pong advantage dyan," he said.

He noted that online travel booking platforms offer tourists more options and even complete tour packages, and allow them to conveniently book and pay for their trips. He said, however, that it is their job to protect consumers.


Appeals was denied. Consumer protection was clearly stated on their license to operate (LTO). Moral of the story, read the fine prints on your permits.

Air Passenger Bill of Rights orders air carriers and their agents to provide full, fare, and clear disclosure of all the terms and conditions of the contract of carriage, including fare details.

[Gustavo J Oppenheimer]

Bangkok, Da Nang, Melbourne and Sapporo will have expanded flights starting Oct and Dec


https://insiderph.com/cebu-pacific-expands-holiday-flights-to-bangkok-da-nang-melbourne-sapporo

[Arianespace]

PAL is also growing MEL after securing regulatory approvals for more seats. Perhaps both carriers are pre-empting the QFA launch for same route.

[JNC03]

Philippine Airlines during Northern winter 2025/26 season schedules selected service changes to Australia, mainly focusing on Christmas and New Year period. Planned service changes as follows.

Manila – Brisbane 309-seater A330-300 replaces 168-seater A321LR during following days from MNL
20DEC25 – 22DEC25 Day 16
03JAN26 – 13JAN26 Day 26
15JAN26 – 17JAN26 Day 46

Manila – Perth Increase from 3 to 6 weekly during following periods, A321LR operating
17DEC25 – 22DEC25 Day x2
04JAN26 – 12JAN26 Day x3

[Antonph]

Hello le forum, any idea why no airline is talking about phuket. Number 1 tourism destination in Thailand. Could be nice to have back a direct link mnl hkt 🥰

[Arianespace]

Good question. We have Bali but not Phuket. AirAsia did introduce Bali, and not Phuket. Traffic must be low that they never bother to test it. PAL introduced Chiang Mae before but dropped the route later. So I think Filipinos are fond only of Bangkok, to do shopping.

[Antonph]

Some years back, I took cebupac Manila Phuket direct but the route didn’t stay long 😢 Chang Mai is served actually 3 times a week!  I wonder if the route working well and yes Bkk is Bkk big big hit for Filipinos 😂 if AirAsia cepac or pal guys read please open Phuket !!

[JNC03]

Sunlight's first ATR72-600


📷: Mike Lee

[xzibit31]

Just a question.

What are the registry number of the SMC 330's and how many were they?  RP-Cxxxx? Were they retrofitted after PAL was handed backnover to the Tan's?

[JNC03]

Priority destinations for PAL A35K

Los Angeles
San Francisco
Toronto
New York

[xzibit31]

will they retire the 77w's?

hopefully they will retrofit to tri class and send those back down under.  

i truly miss taking the 77w's to SYD.

[Gustavo J Oppenheimer]

At this point PAL should consider getting freighter aircraft if they want their cargo business to grow exponentially and prepare for any widescale scenario that would disrupt passenger air travel similar to COVID

[filipinoavgeek]

From what I remember, the plan for the short-to-medium term is that the A35Ks will not replace the  77Ws; instead, the 77Ws will be redeployed elsewhere like the Middle East. I'm not sure if that's accurate, or if that's still the plan, but it wouldn't surprise me.

[filipinoavgeek]

Could someone explain why Candon needs an airport? They're currently building an airport with a terminal, but what is it supposed to be for? Vigan already has a (very underutilized) airport that's about an hour away, so unless the point is to allow bigger planes, then I'm not sure.

To Arianespace: sometimes I am able to access the site on PLDT, but not before seeing this error: https://imgur.com/a/Mgbv1nJ
I'm not sure if it's related to the blocking thing, but in any case, it might still be worth checking with PLDT to see why the site can't be accessed on it.

[romantic_guy08]

Three straight flights of AC from YVR to MNL has been cancelled due to the cabin crew strikes...

boon for PR... wonder how long these strikes and flight disruptions will last....

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8jp3d13103o