Philippine Airlines (PAL) will be deploying two new Boeing 777–300 ER units on flights to London and to the U.S. once the airplanes are delivered in December this year.
“The Boeing aircraft will serve the Manila-London route, a move designed to primarily enhance the total passenger travel experience and inflight service delivery,” PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista said in a statement.
“While we already have eight triple 7s serving the West Coast, the incoming units will also augment other trans-Pacific flights,” Bautista added.
“The Boeing 777 is our flagship aircraft for long-haul operations. With its range and operational capability, the flag carrier will be at par with other full-service carriers along the route. We will also increase capacity as the aircraft will have a 370-seating capacity on a two-class configuration (42 on business and 328 on economy) as compared to the 254-seating capacity of the A340,” Bautista explained.
The acquisition of the carrier’s ninth and 10th B777 aircraft is based on a long-term lease agreement with Intrepid Aviation.
During the delivery of PAL’s seventh and eighth B777 in 2016, Intrepid president and chief commercial officer Doug Winter said, “Intrepid and Philippine Airlines have enjoyed a strong partnership dating back to 2013. The Philippines is currently one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia and the airline has been enjoying a strong, profitable growth trajectory over the past few years.”
PAL aims to be the country’s full-service five-star airline in five years by implementing its flagship initiatives such as fleet modernization, which includes acquiring six brand-new Airbus A3350s for delivery starting mid-2018 and reconfiguring eight monoclass Airbus A330s to tri-class layout.
At present, PAL has a total of 81 planes comprised of A320s, A321s, A330s, A340s, and B777s.
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