Airlines In The Philippines III

[Gustavo J Oppenheimer]

Earlier this month, the DOT held high-level meetings with Saudia Airlines and Riyadh Air  to discuss air connectivity expansion and possible joint tourism promotions.


The DOT delegation met separately with Saudia Airlines General Manager Abdulrahman Alabdulwahab and Riyadh Air Vice President for Network Planning and Partnerships Wolfgang Reuss during the 26th UN Tourism General Assembly in Riyadh from Nov. 7 to 11.



The DOT said new direct routes are expected to operate this year, including Riyadh–Cagayan de Oro and Riyadh–Zamboanga flights, which will complement the country's existing Riyadh–Manila and Jeddah–Manila connections."


https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1263246

[Arianespace]

seven13 wrote

Starting June 01 2026, PR is set to add a third rotation on MNLLAX route with 4x a week service operating on MoWeFrSu utilizing B777

PR122 MNL 1515H -> LAX 1345H
PR123 LAX 1655H -> MNL 2235H +1

This was a resumption flight of a butchered plan first introduced in 2018 before they were cut short by the covid pandemic in 2019.

Dmitrivich wrote

Philippine Airlines in summer 2019 further expands North America service, reflected in this week’s schedule update. Planned additional service increase as follows.

Manila – Los Angeles 15MAY19 – 30SEP19 Increase from 14 to 17 weekly
PR112 MNL1125 – 1000LAX 773 D
PR102 MNL2100 – 1930LAX 773 D
PR122 MNL2300 – 2125LAX 773 246

PR103 LAX0050 – 0615MNL 773 D
PR113 LAX1230 – 1805+1MNL 773 D
PR123 LAX2355 – 0520+2MNL 773 246

Manila – Toronto eff 31MAR19 Increase from 5 to 7 weekly, A350-900XWB replaces 777-300ER
PR118 MNL1500 – 1810YYZ 350 D
PR119 YYZ0150 – 0615+1MNL 350 D

Previously reported changes:
Manila – New York JFK eff 31MAR19 Increase from 5 to 7 weekly, A350-900XWB operating
Manila – San Francisco eff 31MAR19 Increase from 7-10 to 14 weekly, 777-300ER operating

I also rediscovered this A321neo route post for the LRs(xx3x) in 2018.


So you see, their decisions are circa JJB era. There is nothing new. Nuttall was just re-implementing it now.

[Gustavo J Oppenheimer]

So will they fly to Mumbai and New Delhi soon?

[Arianespace]

Gustavo J Oppenheimer wrote

The DOT said new direct routes are expected to operate this year, including Riyadh–Cagayan de Oro and Riyadh–Zamboanga flights, which will complement the country's existing Riyadh–Manila and Jeddah–Manila connections."

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1263246

According to CAB, the CGY and ZAM flight connects in MNL. So there is no direct flights. Its like Southwest connection if you are going to the US

[Arianespace]

Gustavo J Oppenheimer wrote

So will they fly to Mumbai and New Delhi soon?

Well, get ready. They are already preparing. Take a peek

[airline_builder]

Arianespace wrote

Gustavo J Oppenheimer wrote

So will they fly to Mumbai and New Delhi soon?

Well, get ready. They are already preparing. Take a peek

operated code shared with fly dubai

[Arianespace]

If plans don't go awry, PAL intends to re-launch it next year.

In fairness, Air India is not the first airline to fly direct flights to Manila. PAL did it in 2011. The rest of that story is here.  Since then, it was a hit and miss. I hope the adage "third time is a charm" bodes well to them.

[Gustavo J Oppenheimer]

Depends on the situation in that region,  they already cancelled last minute because of the same reason back in 2019

[filipinoavgeek]

A couple of big news updates:

5J finally launched its A330neo service between MNL and TAG after being delayed for several months.

In addition, it appears that Air India's DEL-MNL flights are doing well enough for the flight to go daily starting December.

[Gustavo J Oppenheimer]

Until Feb 28

https://x.com/BOMLHR/status/1988199450851033435?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1988199450851033435%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=

[filipinoavgeek]

So maybe it's just for the Christmas season, although depending on the performance, maybe in the future it could become daily permanently. After all, one reason for the route is to stimulate PH-India demand.

[Solblanc]

filipinoavgeek wrote

So maybe it's just for the Christmas season, although depending on the performance, maybe in the future it could become daily permanently. After all, one reason for the route is to stimulate PH-India demand.

Air India can also offer sixth freedom connections to Europe and the Middle East. Not to mention domestic connections, as there is some business traffic to BOM and BLR that usually goes via TG or SQ.

PAL could in theory offer connecting flights to the US West Coast, Canada, and Australia. But the timings have to be very good, and MNL is not a very good airport to connect in.

I think this market has been effectively ceded to AI for now, especially as PAL still has NEOs that are grounded. But it can grow

[Gustavo J Oppenheimer]

Airbus is now thinking of an A350-2000

https://simpleflying.com/talks-stretched-airbus-a350-model-reignite-dubai-airshow/

[Gustavo J Oppenheimer]

The Department of Tourism (DOT) is finalizing measures to promote airfare transparency and strengthen consumer protection, even as lawmakers push for the upgrade of key provincial airports and highlight gains from newly opened international and domestic routes.


https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1263743

[filipinoavgeek]

To Solblanc:

Regarding PR's interest in 787: if ordering it is an issue, could they not either buy 2nd hand 787s, or just lease them?

[Solblanc]

Ordering isn’t the issue. Making a decision is.

If Richard keeps up the profitability, maybe the board will listen to him if he says that PAL should start placing orders

[Arianespace]

Well, Mon Ortiz has a good idea on what their future fleet would be. He seems to have the same idea as mine. And perhaps PAL too!

[filipinoavgeek]

In other news, PR relaunched MNL-CTS, though as mentioned before, this time only as a seasonal route. I mentioned this before when the resumption was first announced, but I find it weird that PR's route is only seasonal while 5J was able to make the route work year-round. Yes Hokkaido is mostly known as a Winter destination, but 5J has been effective in promoting it as a destination even outside of Winter.

[Gustavo J Oppenheimer]

PAL does not have any sufficient planes that can reach Sapporo as of now.

[Evodesire]

 

Arianespace wrote

Well, Mon Ortiz has a good idea on what their future fleet would be. He seems to have the same idea as mine. And perhaps PAL too!

Is this what they are most likely aiming for? If yes, then it makes sense. Only three types of aircraft with two variants each. More streamlined, less cluttered.