Philippine Airlines (PAL) is ramping up its operations in the Asian region by launching new routes to Hanoi (Vietnam), Phnom Penh (Cambodia) and New Delhi (India) from its Manila hub, starting summer.
The new route to Phnom Penh is the first direct air link between the Philippines and the capital of Cambodia, while the Hanoi service expands PAL’s existing Vietnam network. The New Delhi service, meanwhile, re-establishes a historic link to India with immense potential for tourism development, the flag carrier said in a statement.
“Philippine Airlines’ strategic vision is to make the Philippines a true gateway to Asia. We are the Southeast Asian airline with the biggest and most extensive network of direct flights to the US and Canada, and thus we can be the leader in carrying North American travelers to India, Cambodia and Vietnam via our Manila hub,” PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime J. Bautista said.
“We will leverage Manila’s excellent geographical location as an ideal stopover point for people flying to Southeast and South Asia from the East and West Coasts of North America,” Bautista added.
PAL currently operates 43 weekly flights nonstop from six North American destinations: New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, San Francisco, Honolulu, and Vancouver. The carrier’s Boeing 777, Airbus A350, and Airbus A330 aircraft will generate passenger travel flows into Hanoi, Delhi, Phnom Penh and other destinations in the ASEAN region and beyond. PAL additionally operates seven weekly flights from the U.S. territory of Guam.
“Vietnam and Cambodia are emerging markets and economic centers that need connections to the rest of the world. We are excited to introduce their excellent tourist attractions to more and more Western travelers, including Filipino Americans,” Bautista said.
“PAL also looks forward to serving the many ethnic Vietnamese and Cambodian people who are now US and Canadian citizens,” he added.
Phnom Penh’s newly expanded airport serves as a gateway to Siem Reap, Sihanoukville, and other popular destinations in Cambodia.
Flights between Manila and Hanoi will operate four times weekly (Monday/Wednesday/Friday/Sunday) starting March 31, 2019 with PR 595 departing at 10:25 p.m. and arriving at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport at 12:45 a.m. the following day. Return flights via PR 596 leave Hanoi every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 1:45 a.m. and touch down in Manila at 5:30 a.m.
Flights between Manila and Phnom Penh will operate five times weekly (Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturday) starting April 1, 2019 with PR 521 departing at 10:10 p.m. and arriving at Phnom Penh International Airport at 11:45 p.m. Return flights via PR 522 leave Phnom Penh every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 12:45 a.m. and touch down in Manila at 4:20 a.m.
PAL will maintain its current eight weekly flights between Manila and Vietnam’s commercial hub, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), a city served by the flag carrier since the mid-1980s.
The new service to New Delhi, meanwhile, will provide a welcome boost to the tourism industries of both the Philippines and India, PAL said. The airline previously flew the Manila-Delhi route from 2011 to 2013, with most flights making costly stopovers in Bangkok due to the limited range of the Airbus A320 aircraft then in use. PAL also served Kolkata (Calcutta) as a key stopover point on the flag carrier’s multi-stop Manila-Europe services in the 1950s.
PAL is targeting April 2019 as the start of the New Delhi service subject to final slot and operational clearances with the Indian authorities. The new route is slated to run four times weekly nonstop between Manila and New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport using brand-new Airbus A321neo aircraft.
The aircraft is also flying nonstop to Sydney, Brisbane, Port Moresby, and Sapporo at present. For Hanoi and Phnom Penh, PAL will utilize a 156-seater Airbus A320 and a 199-seater Airbus A321 Classic.
PAL is also increasing the number of weekly flights to certain destinations during the summer 2019 travel season, as follows:
- Cebu to Nagoya: from 4 weekly flights to daily
- Manila to Osaka (nonstop): from 7 weekly flights to 11
- Manila to Bangkok: from 21 weekly flights to 25
- Manila to Kuala Lumpur: from 7 weekly flights to 11
- Manila to Jakarta: from 7 weekly flights to 10
- Manila to Los Angeles: from 14 times weekly to 17
- Manila to San Francisco: from 10 times weekly to 14
- Manila to New York JFK: from 5 weekly flights to daily
- Manila to Toronto: from 5 weekly flights to daily
- Manila to Sydney: from 7 weekly flights to 9
- Manila to Brisbane: from 4 weekly flights to 5
- Manila to Taipei: from 10 weekly flights to 14
- Manila to Doha: from 4 weekly flights to 5
