Airlines in the Philippines

[dashalvin]

Ariane, is the runway of Basco airport extendable? Sobrang mahal ng fare pa Batanes at once in a bluemoon lang nagpopromo ang PAL sa route na to.

[Arianespace]

Nope.

By the way, if there's one route the Q400 excel is this airport. The ATR72 is not rated to fly here, except well the ATR42. So that explains why no 5J in Basco. I think it has more to do with the climb rate in go around cases. As you may be aware the other end of the runway is a wall.The biggest passenger plane rated to fly at this airport is BAE 146 which is a STOL aircraft. Coincidentally, they were all flown to BSO.

[tigz]

The superior engine performance of the Q coupled with its faster rate of climb allows it to clear obstacle comfortably in one one engine out situations. Even the ATR 42 would not be suited for Basco.

[dashalvin]

I did get the load factor when 2P was operating the CEB-DPL-CEB for just over 2 months March-May 2012. The load factor was 50% and they cancelled 4 flights in the month of April and 8 flights in May. If they will be persistent enough not to cancel flights when load factors are not that good, they may win their customers back and perhaps entice more ship travellers to spend extra for air travel comfort. It may be even be harder now since they are now operating as PAL express and the general public view of PAL is it's more expensive than 5J.

[Arianespace]

tigz wrote

Even the ATR 42 would not be suited for Basco.

It does fly to Basco as illustrated by Airswift here. The picture is taken from the Q400s with the cast shadow.

[xzibit31]

Arianespace, any news about the PPP for the regional airports? Looks like the Governement is so silent about the projects.

[Arianespace]

Its being revised because it turned out to be costly to the passengers, ie. terminal fees. While PPP is pro-government because it raises substantial revenues (DIA alone is ₱40b minimum bid), it is however expensive to its users.

DU30 is pro people so DOTr was directed to rethink these projects. They are now pushing for a new “hybrid” funding system, more like a mix of General Appropriations, PPP, and official development assistance (ODA) funds, to support these airport infrastructures. First to be stricken-off was Sasa PPP. The rest should be bid out next year depending on which one shall offer the lowest fees and highest price. Now, that is tricky.  

Personally, I thought the bundling was okay, but when you factor the payments we make for 30 years, DU30's argument make a lot more sense. He was right.

[maortega15]

Does anyone know if there are plans to update the seats and IFE for PAL's early 777's? Wouldn't make sense to have to completely different products.

[seven13]

So AC is re-entering the PH market via codeshare agreement with CX on HKG-MNL/CEB vv flights.

[Eurest]

The prohibiting factor with 5J in BSO with the 72-500 was a combination of its rate of climb at around 400m/min, with a lower payload capacity
Higher costs for the BSO flight such as insurance meant the BEP was way higher than what was projected for the year

Due to Wx, PR would sometimes need to block off 20 seats on the Q400 to carry enough fuel to be able to land at a certain angle, carry high speed and be able to clear Iraya in case of a TOGA and come back to MNL
A PR flight returning to MNL because it was not feasible was pretty common because of how frequent the volatile weather was in Basco
To compare, the Q400 has a 460m/min climb rate, even on days with cloud cover, high winds and high air temps, that is still 56 pax for PR

The 42 series ATRs have a better rate of climb at 550m/min
The 72-600 still has the same 400/min rate of climb of the 72-500 but has slightly improved payload, not sure if we'll see 5J in BSO soon. ITB/RPLT is more probable for a Batanes destination, if the market improves as that was the major factor in 5J not starting operations in 2014

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Questions on the PR A330 refurb though

18J means 3 rows of 1-2-1 and an odd 4?

Coincidentally you can do 18J with the Vantage ala MH alternating 1-2-1/1-2-2 but the "throne" window seat behind the 2 seats has a very cramped foothole. Probably worse than the Equinox's foothole

Another oddity of the PR A330 is the lone lavatory preceded by a cabinet before R2
Are they leaving it as is or moving the cabinet over to the side of L2


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Sharing some lessor ramblings that might make a certain mod happy

Airbus is offering a straight swap for A350 orders for the A380 after EK's deferral of 6
Toulouse is said to have offered very low prices to maintain delivery rates for the whale

Toulouse is now looking for a lessor to help facilitate a 3+3 deal for new operators

Are the midnight departure and 3AM arrival times at MNL for PR west coast too congested wherein the slots would not allow for the separation times required for a Super?
Are the remote stands near the hotel big enough to fit 2-3 Supers at the same time
How A380 friendly is the new MIAA head?
Could we see CRK to US west coast soon as a probable step in CRK's expansion?
Only asking because the prices are quite low, besides prime CDG slots maybe included

[Evodesire]

According to the blog, PAL released a picture of the new seats. Anyone aware of the link?

[tigz]

Most of all the Q will have better weather avoidance having a service ceiling of 25,000ft as compared to the ATRs 20,000 and Basco is known for its weather. In one engine out terrain avoidance is also crucial as the Q can steady at 17,000ft whereas the ATR struggles at 11,000. The newgens by PALex will have some business seats so that's a plus for the rich and politicos coming from short runway airports!

[Travelbug_89]

Hi all,

First time poster here but long time lurker. I just got back from the Philippines last night, flew PR153 headed there (RP-C3437) and PR152 for my return (on RP-C3439). The February 2017 issue of Mabuhay magazines said in the "From Our Chaiman" section that the A340s are also getting refurbished (link to an online version http://edition.pagesuite.com/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=71a088aa-84b5-45b4-b377-b6483df3cfd5). Does that mean a number of them will stick around even after the A350s are all delivered?

On another note, on both LAX-CEB and CEB-LAX the number of passengers was on the light side, couldn't have been more than 200 passengers, I had two seats to myself both ways and my brother had an enter cluster of four center seats to himself on the CEB-LAX leg. It makes me wonder if CEB-LAX is profitable and whether it'll be kept, and whether PR should get their hands on 787-8/9s or A330-800neos to do routes like this cause it even seems like the A350 may be too big. Being from Bacolod, I found the timings for domestic flights aren't ideal because of the long layover times, 4 hrs on my way to Bacolod and over 8 hrs headed  back to LA. They really need to add flights that are strategically timed for passengers to transit to/from PR152/PR153 cause so far from the looks of it only flights to/from ILO, DVO, and CGY are timed perfectly for the flight to/from LAX out of CEB.

[tigz]

It is expected to be lean as Sinulog season just passed and most return tickets are probably timed early March . Generally, February is lean anywhere in the airline industry as people travel less this month after the holiday spending season and bills racking up. Those A350 are not delivered all at once hence the A340s to keep the rotations consistent.

[oninBadz]

by the way those old PAL aircrafts stored in Clark before, are they still there or already sent back to lessor? those old A333 and 343's? What about those old B732 of GAP which were lying near PALEX hangar in NAIA, are they still their? I wonder what they with all those old ladies BAC1-11 and the Short 360's. I have seen them before also near present PALEX hangar. were they're they culled out bit by bit?

[Unbreakable]

Thompson Vantage XL. Here's the one from SAS

[Unbreakable]

Full Article here:

http://www.futuretravelexperience.com/2017/01/philippine-airlines-remove-105-seats-a330s-accommodate-three-class-layout/

[tigz]

If these are the seats for PALs business calss  then now were talking business!

[Unbreakable]

Yes they will be but of a different color

[Evodesire]

I'm happy too that these will be the new seats. Those Equinox 3D seats look like stretchers when flat. At least PAL is now very clear in its direction and branding, unlike during the RSA time when he wanted it to be like another Cebu Pacific.