5J mulls Doha

May 30, 2013

Cebu Pacific is planning to fly its A330-300 thrice a week from Manila to Doha Qatar in February next year but is hampered by bilateral restrictions of only two frequencies for the Philippines side.

The Philippines has secured eight flights per week for the Manila-Doha route from its Air Services Agreement with Qatar. Six of the frequencies were awarded to Philippine Airlines(PAL) and is applying for one more entitlement in a bid to start daily flight by November, leaving Cebu Pacific with one entitlement if their petition is approve.

Cebu Pacific is seeking reallocation of this entitlements so that it can mount flights every Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

Sources within the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) said that its difficult for CEB to secure the rights to Doha unless the ASA is amended, given that PAL has the grandfather rights which is also applying for one more slot in the gulf state. CEB has unhampered access from Clark to Doha but it wants to get slots from Manila.  

5J's first A330 Takes the Air

May 28, 2013

F-WWTR (MSN 1420) back after first flight
Airbus A330-343X
Taken at Toulouse Airport

Image courtesy of David Barrie

DND to add 21 new Hueys by Negotiated Bid

By Alexis Romero

May 27, 2013

The Department of National Defense (DND) will acquire 21 UH-1 helicopters through a negotiated procurement after the two public biddings for the air assets failed.

Defense Undersecretary Fernando Manalo said they need to fast-track the acquisition of the helicopters to beef up the Air Force’s security and disaster response capabilities.

“We cannot afford not to have additional helicopters for a long time. The rainy season is approaching. We need the helicopters for disaster response,” Manalo told The STAR over the weekend. “We also need them for our existing internal security operations.”

The government has allotted P1.2649 billion for 21 helicopters, which were originally intended to support election-related duties. However, the procurement of the air assets has been delayed due to failed biddings.

“The decision is to proceed with the procurement. Since there are two failed biddings, it will be through negotiated bid,” he said.
Headlines ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1

Manalo explained that under a negotiated bid, companies that signified interest to supply the equipment would be invited to submit a proposal. Other firms could also submit offers.

A team composed of representatives from the agency that would use the equipment would evaluate the proposals.

The first public bidding for the 21 helicopters was held last December.

The Defense System/Radom Israel and Rice Aircraft Services, Inc. participated in the bidding but both companies failed to meet the requirements set by the DND.

The second bidding was held last February and only one bidder - the US-based Rice Aircraft Services - was declared eligible to submit an offer.

The DND, however, declared that the company had failed to satisfy some financial requirements during the post-qualification phase.

“The problem lies on the technical and administrative matters on the part of Rice,” Manalo said.

“(Rice) did not meet (some requirements) based on the financial statements (it submitted). Through such documents, we can see a bidder’s financial capacity,” he added.

The DND requires bidders to submit financial documents to determine if they are capable of undertaking the project or supplying the needed equipment.

The Air Force requested for additional helicopters as early as 2011.

It only has 16 mission-capable UH-1 helicopters in its inventory, 51 units short of the ideal number of operational combat utility helicopters.

Marriage Out of Wedlock

The Civil Aeronautics Board's (CAB) manifested its displeasure in the union of Zest Airways and Air Asia Philippine which could face penalty for undertaking joint marketing agreement without asking regulator's approval.

CAB said both airlines failed to explain why Zest Air is using Air Asia's website for reservation and ticket sales without clearance from them. Both airlines also failed to register the merger with the Board.

Merger and consolidation, as well as Joint Marketing Agreement between two airlines requires prior license and approval from CAB to protect the interest of the riding public as to civil and criminal liability in case of breaches of contract that may be incurred by the merging airlines.

PAL to Fly Sao Paolo via LAX

May 27, 2013

PAL President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon Ang said today that the airline is set to fly Sao Paulo, in Brazil via Los Angeles soon. Ang said regulatory approvals is already underway and they are just waiting for the clearance for fly to south America's largest country.

PAL is expected to extend one of its Los Angeles flights to Sao Paolo presumably the Airbus A340-300 morning departures. 

Under the current category 2 rating, the airline is allowed to fly only Boeing 747-400 and Airbus 340-300 aircraft to the United States. 

Ang said that North America is the most profitable destination for the airline accounting more than 40% of its revenue.

The PAL President added that the Philippines has long secured from the United States fifth freedom rights to transport passengers originating in the US to a third country such as Brazil and vice versa.

The airline intends to add Brazil to its international route network by 2014.

Ang said the airline is expecting delivery of one more B777-300ER, 8 new generation A330-300, and 8 A321-200s in 2013. The new A330 is going to service the Middle East, Australia, Korea and Japan while the A321 is going to service some domestic and regional routes.

Meanwhile, PAL is preparing a contingency plan in case the country fails to bag an upgrade in its aviation ratings this year as it seeks out lease proposals over some of its Boeing 777-300ER to defray the cost of maintaining the aircraft. 

PAL said it will add 4 interim fleet of A340-300 to augment its fleet to North America as contingency measure to the status quo rating if they cannot fly the B777 to the US .

Ang disclosed that each aircraft costs $20 million a year to maintain and operate and some have no destination to fly to. The airline is supposed to use the six long haul planes for US expansion but only two of them fly to North America.
PAL has prepared contingency plan in case the country fails to bag FAA category 1 ratings this year by seeking out lease proposals over some of its Boeing 777-300ER as it take four more A340s to fly San Francisco, Los Angeles and Honolulu.

CN295 heading for PAF


May 26, 2013

The Republic of the Philippines intends to buy three frames of Airbus Military CN-295 planes manufactured in Indonesia for the Philippine Air Force (PAF), according to Indonesia Vice Defense Minister Gen. Sjafrie Shamsuddien who was in Manila Friday.

The Indonesian Official said that the multirole aircraft build by Indonesian Aerospace (PT. Dirgantara Indonesia or PTDI) will be used by ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asia Nations) for common defense and rescue.

“We are promoting the use of a common defense system among the Asean countries and the CN-295 perfectly fits this objective,” Shamsuddien said in a statement.

Pio Lorenzo Batino, Defense Undersecretary for Legal and Legislative Affairs and Strategic Concerns said they are finalizing the procurement of the said aircraft worth USD28 million each through Government-to-Government transaction to expedite bid and minimize costs.

Batino said one of the aircraft is expected to go to the navy to be fitted for long-range reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare.

Airbus Military and PTDI promoted the transport aircraft in the ASEAN region as it makes its first stop of the demonstration tour flights in the Philippines before it goes to six other ASEAN countries – Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia.

Sjamsuddien said the common use of the same aircraft type in the Asean region would strengthen cooperation among members while significantly reducing the operational and maintenance cost of the aircraft.

The Indonesian Air Force is willing to give three manufacturing slots to the Philippine Air Force says Sjamsuddien for early delivery.

The Indonesia Air Force currently has  two CN295s in its inventory out of the nine units ordered from Airbus Military-PTDI. By 2015, all of the nine units is expected be in service in Indonesia.

The CN-295 is optimally suited for the wide range of humanitarian and defence tasks that ASEAN Governments need to cover according to Airbus.

Airbus Military and PTDI opened up assembly plants in Bandung, Indonesia to develop this type of aircraft together with two others,the CN235 and the NC212i,an upgraded version of the C212 launched in November 2012, both of which are also being offered to the Philippines.

The C-295 is in service with the Armed Forces of 15 countries. As of March 31, 2013, 121 frames have been ordered world-wide from Airbus Military and currently almost 100 are in operation with countries such as Algeria, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, Ghana, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

The Airbus Military CN295 first delivered in 2001 is a new generation, highly versatile tactical airlifter with remarkable short take-off & landing (STOL) performance from unprepared short, soft and rough airstrips. It is powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127G turboprop engines with low fuel consumption and long endurance flight time of up to eleven hours before refueling.

The transport aircraft is able to carry up to nine tonnes of payload or up to 71 personnel, at a maximum cruise speed of 260 kt /480 km/h. It is fitted with a retractable landing gear and a pressurised cabin with cruise at altitudes up to 25,000 ft, while also performing low level flight characteristics.

The CN295 is a developed version of the well-known CN235, offering greater capacity and range.
Defense Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino (left) and Indonesian Vice Minister of Defense Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, walk around a CN-295 military transport aircraft prior to a demonstration flight

PAL Secures 5th Freedom Rights to Brazil

As Philippines enters first Air Services Agreement to South America

May 23, 2013


The Philippines and Brazil on Wednesday signed its first Air Service Agreement with the largest South American country in a bid to boost travel between the two countries, an Official of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) discloses.

CAB Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla said the Philippines, through its designated carrier Philippine Airlines got seven flight entitlements to either Sao Paolo or Rio de Janeiro with fifth freedom traffic rights to any third country points.

Brazil on the other hand also got seven flight to Manila with TAM as the designated airline with fifth freedom traffic rights to any third country points as well.

"This agreement allows for seven flights between Manila and Brazil, with fifth freedom traffic rights to any third country points. In addition it allows for unlimited traffic rights between Brazil and other gateways in the Philippines except Manila, also with fifth freedom to any third country points," Arcilla said.

Fifth freedom rights simply means the airline like PAL can land in a different country i.e. Dubai or Addis Ababa, pick up passengers and bring them to Brazil. Similarly, TAM airlines can land in Dubai or Addis Ababa pick up passengers and bring them to Manila.

How Your Airlines Fare?

The Science of Airline Economics in the Philippines 
and why Hawaiian says Goodbye.


LF- Load Factor. 
Passenger Load Factor (PLF) or simply LF is defined as measure of the amount of utilisation of the total available seats offered by airlines to a given route. It is useful for calculating the average occupancy on the airline seat for a given destination. By using this information, airlines can determine the profitability and revenue potential of the route network.

In much simpler terms, Load factor represents the proportion of airline output that is actually consumed. Load factor for a single flight can be calculated by dividing the number of passengers by the number of seats. 

If an airline offers 1000 seats i.e. Manila-Palau and only 700 seats are sold, the airline has a load factor of 70% for this route. 

Based on the 2013 figures released by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), Air Macau is losing terribly followed by Saudia and Thai Airways losing badly. Hawaiian on number 4 has said goodbye, while Kuwait occupies the number 5 slots. Both Saudia and Kuwait Airways makes stop-over flight in Bangkok to compensate their losses. KLM with stops at Taipei improved its performance by registering 64% seat occupancy.

Sunwest Secures Bicol Airport Contract

May 22, 2013

The Sunwest Construction Development Corporation (SCDC) has been cleared by the Regional Trial Court of Mandaluyung City to begin construction of the 1.2 billion pesos Daraga Airport Project phase 1 after the court confirmed the awards by DOTC of the contract to the company.

The 1.2 billion contract includes airside development covering the runway strip construction, concrete paving of runway, construction of taxiway, rigid pavement, and other peripheral works.

Legal challenges has been thrown by losing bidders, BSP & Co Inc and 4B Construction Corp.on the capacity of the company to undertake the bid. Judge Maria A. Cancino-Erum of RTC Branch 211 dismissed both companies' petition for lack of jurisdiction.

On October 22, 2012, the DOTC Bids and Awards Committee opened the bids submitted for the project and declared SCDC as the lowest bidder with its P708 million offer, which was 20 percent lower than the government's floor price.

There will be separate bidding for the construction of the passenger terminal building and other landside components.

Meanwhile, four groups has been pre-qualified to bid for the P120.4 million consulting and engineering services contract for for the proposed Daraga airport project.

The four groups are:
1. Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong Ltd.
2. Filipinas Dravo Corp and Key Engineers Co. and Proconsult Inc.
3. Schema Konsult Inc. and Pertconsult, International, DCCD Engineering Corp., and Philipp's Technical Consultants Corp.; and
4. TCGI Engineers, Urban Integrated Consultants Inc., and Engineering & Development Corp. of the Philippines.

PAL Quits Delhi

May 21, 2013
Philippine Airlines announced that it will be cancelling flights to Delhi from June 17, 2013 due to poor sales. Passengers affected after that date will be accommodated by airline partners. Flights to Bangkok remain unchanged. Services to Delhi has seen flight downgrades from Airbus 330 to Airbus 320 until the airline finally pulled the plug to the Indian Capital.


Air Traffic Close To Saturation Point

Air passenger traffic rose only by 1.2% in Q1

By Miguel R. Camus

May 20, 2013

The country’s airline industry continued to post gains in terms of overall passenger traffic in the first quarter, but at a much slower pace than that recorded in 2012, data from the Civil Aeronautics Board showed.

Information posted on the agency’s website showed that total domestic and international traffic increased by about 1.2 percent to 9.58 million in the first three months of 2013. In the same period last year, passenger traffic grew by 11.7 percent. Philippine Airlines continued to be the preferred carrier for international flights while Cebu Pacific led in domestic traffic, CAB reported.

International traffic, comprising incoming and outgoing flights, hit 4.5 million passengers during the period, up nearly 5 percent from the roughly 4.3 million passengers registered in 2012.

But domestic air travel slipped by 2 percent to 5.06 million during the period.

Cebu Pacific, a budget carrier owned by JG Summit Holdings, accounted for almost half of all domestic flights as it carried 2.52 million passengers in the first quarter.

This was followed by flag carrier Philippine Airlines, a unit of conglomerate San Miguel Corp., and its budget unit PAL Express, which accounted for a combined 35 percent of total domestic flights.

Zest Air flew 496,926 passengers while SeaAir transported 209,979 passengers, CAB data showed. Zest Air is now 49 percent-owned by Air Asia Bhd., the region’s largest budget carrier.

Philippine Airlines, PAL Express and Zest Air saw a decline in the number of passengers in the first quarter while that of Cebu Pacific grew, CAB said.

Top local carriers were likewise preferred when compared with their international rivals plying overseas routes.

Although Philippine Airlines saw a 10-percent decline in passenger traffic during the period, it still flew 988,889 people in the first quarter, accounting for nearly 22 percent of all international flights.

Cebu Pacific, which is aggressively expanding its operations overseas, flew 733,127 passengers, up by 3 percent, accounting for 16.2 percent.

Zest Air also widened its market share, which grew to 3.36 percent during the period from 1.6 percent in 2012 as it ferried more people to overseas destinations. SeaAir had a market share of 1.74 percent in international flights.

The most popular foreign carrier in the three months to March was Cathay Pacific, with 353,117 passengers; followed by Emirates, with 210,210; Korean Air, with 185,856; Singapore Airlines, with 158,987; Asiana Airlines, with 153,380; and Etihad Airways, with 132,748 passengers.

5J Flies Phuket

Starts August 16

May 18, 2013
Cebu Pacific will fly three (3) times weekly Manila - Phuket service every Monday, Wednesday and Friday effective Aug. 16 this year.

The maiden flight will leave Manila at 8 p.m. and arrive in Phuket at 11 p.m. The return flight will depart Phuket at 12 a.m. the next day and arrive in Manila at 5:05 a.m.




Cambodia Airlines To Use PAL Fleet

May 10, 2013

Philippine Airlines (PAL) on Thursday said they will enter into a code-sharing agreement with Cambodia Airlines in almost all destinations it will fly into.

During the sidelines of the Ginebra San Miguel Inc stockholders' meeting, PAL President Ramon S. Ang said that the flag carrier will provide the planes for the airline consisting of Bombardier turboprops and Airbus jets.

Cambodia Airlines will operate a mix fleet of Bombardier Q400 turboprops, Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft for domestic and regional destinations, with PAL redeploying some of its aircraft.

Ang stated that Cambodia Airlines is projected to have 16-22 aircraft in two years, with 20 aircraft costing $1.5 billion.

Trainer plane stalls flights

May 9, 2013

By Eric B. Apolonio


A small trainer aircraft from Clark International Airport Wednesday morning  touched down at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport with its landing gear unretracted blocking Runway 06 for almost an hour.

The Piper Aztec plane (RP-C1095) of Fast Fly Academy Training School was flown by Captain Miguel Perey along with Co-Pilot Marvin Raguvik and passenger Lawrence Uy escaped unhurt but the mishap led to the runway’s closure from 6:30 a.m. to 7:20 a.m.

Delayed were four international flights–China Southern Flight CZ180 to Beijing; Delta Airlines Flight DL 630 to Nagoya; Cathay Pacific Flight CX 904 Hong Kong and Cebu Pacific flight  5J 110 to Hong Kong–along with domestic schedules of were affected , while Domestic flights from PAL flight PR 453 to General Santos, Cebu Pac Flight 5J 551 Cebu, 5J 771 Pagadian, 5J 785 Butuan, 5J 583 Cagayan, 5J 963 Davao, 5J 474 Bacolod,Air Phil  Flight 2P 941 Puerto Princesa, 2P 972 Tacloban and 2P 202 to Roxas City.

NAIA’s 06/24 handles wide-body commercial aircraft while Runway 13 takes up  general aviation.
NAIA’s runways average 36 events (takeoffs and landings) per hour, but actual scheduled commercial and general aviation flights, including trainer aircraft and fish runs, go as high as 50 events per hour during daytime, causing congestion that result in flight delays and cancellations.

Qatar Flies Clark

Begins October 28

May 7, 2013

Qatar Airways will move one of its flight out of Manila to Clark from October 28 after Philippine Airlines (PAL) cancelled code-share deals with Doha based carrier effective on the next winter schedule. Earlier, PAL cancelled deals with Dubai-based Emirates Airlines after PAL decided to fly own metal to the Middle East countries on the next winter schedule beginning November 1.

FAA confirms ICAO findings

Upgrade to be Announced Soon

May 7, 2013
Andrew told FAA representatives that their review is no longer needed as ICAO no longer tags the country as a "significant safety concern." The US regulator will issue announcement soon.
The Federal Administration Administration (FAA) has completed its reassessment of the country's aviation standards scheduled on May 2 and 3, 2013. But the US regulator has not made itself available for comment regarding the Agency's visit to the country last week.

"They have accepted our position and we have accepted their position at the same time, so we have meeting of minds," says Deputy Director General John C. Andrews yesterday.

Andrews told that FAA inspectors are not the ones who decide the category rating but merely inspect compliance to aviation standards which then make recommendations to John Barbagallo, FAA Manager for International programs and policy.

CAAP is however optimistic on the results of the audit as they defended their position on international compliance previously issued by United Nation's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

 "We are very optimistic of the upgrade," said Andrews.

John Barbagallo of the FAA's Flight Standards Service sent team of Nicholas Reyes, Manager of the FAA’s Western Pacific-Flight Standards Division, and James Spillane, Senior FAA Representative to the Philippines, who inspected the deficient concerns and were briefed on the country’s compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards.

IATA Prefers Single Airport for Manila

May 6, 2013

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) prefers Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) as the main gateway for Manila with alternative airport to be establish within the metropolis. It recently submitted its position to the government relative to the creation of multi-airport system espoused by the Department of Transport and Communications (DOTC). Malacañang is carefully evaluating the three options before it reaches a decision on whether Manila would adopt a single or twin airport system. 

Airbus leases Four A340 to PAL

For Immediate North America Deployment

May 3, 2013

photo
Airbus is leasing four A340-300 to Philippine Airlines as stop- gap measure to its flight operations in North America. The airline plans to add flights to Hawaii, Los Angeles and San francisco. The four A340-300 were previously operated by Spain's Iberia Airlines of the International Airlines Group previously registered ex EC-HDQ (Cn 302), EC-HGU (Cn 318), EC-HGX (Cn332), EC-LHM (Cn 387).  They will be re-registered in the Philippines as RP-C3435, RP-C3436, RP-C3437, RP-C3438.




Route Of The Problem

The Politics of Category II

May 2, 2013

By Conrado R. Banal III

When the country’s flag carrier, Philippine Airlines, or PAL, launched last week its 12 new routes, seated beside each other at the table were PAL president Ramon S. Ang and Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez.

Hmmm… Do you think Jimenez might be the first tourism secretary in quite a long time that, as an avowed mission in life, would not be directly hostile to the ever-struggling flag carrier?

"FAA insisted that the government should not rely on PAL experts for pilot training"
After all, among the priorities of Jimenez at the Department of Tourism, or the DOT, as spelled out in his comprehensive tourism program, was what the DOT called “market accessibility.”

For the sake of our brilliant senatorial candidates, it means that Jimenez simply applied tourism economics, which has been telling us all this time that the 100 percent value-added sector called “tourism” would only take off if the government would put up modern infrastructure called airports that, on their own, with no need for incentives such as tax breaks and all sorts of freebies, would naturally attract airline expansions.

In the past, with the false pretense of supporting tourism, certain bosses at the DOT pushed to the government a bright idea to give away the main market of PAL. This was of course the bulk of overseas Filipinos who as of last count already numbered more than 10 million. Former DOT big shots wanted to open our country to all—I mean “all”—foreign airlines under a free-for-all scheme. The bright idea naturally came from some foreign governments in cooperation with their own troubled airlines. They obviously wanted the humongous OFW market.

In the PAL launch last week, PAL president RSA, who also happens to be the COO and president of the country’s biggest conglomerate, San Miguel, announced the airline’s 12 new destinations, namely Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia); Darwin, Brisbane and Perth (Australia); Guangzhou (China); Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates); Doha (Qatar); Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam (Saudi Arabia); and Dubai (United Arab Emirates).

In November this year, PAL also intends to resume domestic flights to the pristine Basco in Batanes, which is already the most fascinating destination for both domestic and foreign tourists.

Take note that six of those new routes, or half of them, were planned to be in the Middle East. To serve the multitude of OFWs in that part of the world, PAL must nevertheless compete with heavily subsidized airlines.

Well, the world airline industry knows fully well that the root of the problem in the Middle East routes was the government subsidy extended to Middle East-based airlines. OK, subsidized fuel and scandalously cheap petroleum!

That was, in fact, the reason offered by a number of European airlines that already dropped their non-stop direct flights to Manila. They could not compete with Middle East airlines unconstrained by the exorbitant cost of fuel.

Still, the business-math wizard RSA figured that, despite the subsidized fuel of its competitors, PAL would still make money on its new Middle East routes through a combination of secret moves, although between us girls, I could say that RSA would rely chiefly on PAL’s new fleet of aircraft.

As a rule of thumb in the airline business worldwide, fuel accounts for about 40 percent of the airplane fare, making it the most fuel-demanding, cost-challenging transport business in the entire universe.

With the entry of San Miguel into PAL last year, plus the $500-million injection of fresh capital, the airline was able to embark on fleet modernization, acquiring the latest models of US aircraft maker Boeing and the European alliance called Airbus, which were known in the airline business as the new generation of fuel-efficient aircraft.

At an average fare of $800 one-way, the Middle East Market would perhaps remain attractive to RSA, considering that PAL already took delivery of 75 of the 100 new aircraft in its planned fleet modernization.

It cannot be denied that the presence of PAL in the new Middle East routes may trigger the “fare war” much desired by OFWs for so long now, since the Middle East airlines must contend with the other “special” services of PAL, such as warmth, familiar cuisine and beautiful flight attendants.

But RSA figured that Middle East airlines could only enjoy fuel subsidy in their home base. In other countries such as the Philippines, they would have to pay the same rate for fuel as other airlines. Meaning, really, half of the problem solved!

PAL nevertheless must contend with other problems such as the refusal of the governments of South Korea and Japan to grant PAL additional flights, which PAL felt to be rather underserved, as airline ticket prices have been flying through the roof because of big demand with short supply.

Reason for their refusal has always been our CAT-II problem, courtesy of the US Federal Aviation Authority, or the FAA, which a few years ago downgraded its rating of the Philippines for airport safety to Category II. As a result, PAL could not add new routes to the United States or even replace its existing aircraft serving the US routes with new ones.

From what I heard, our salvation from the damning CAT-II has been a moving target for the Aquino (Part II) administration, as the FAA insisted on some measures that would perhaps take more than a lifetime for us to meet. For instance, the FAA insisted that the government should not rely on PAL experts for pilot training, meaning, the government should train its own instructors, which would only take years and years of flying experience, and where would you get that except from PAL?

Hmmm, maybe there is something more in the CAT-II problem than just the airport “safety.” After all, US airlines are also having a grand time flying here, serving those 10 plus million OFWs.

New York?

May 1, 2013

Philippine Airlines President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon Ang said the airline has filed with US DOT regulatory approvals to fly New York and Chicago to Manila using Boeing 777-300ER beginning on the next winter schedule. Ang said the next American destination after Toronto is New York. PAL will receive two new triple seven this year.