LEGACY carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) must enter into other strategic partnerships to further expand its network, amid stiff competition in the local and international aviation arena.
Think tank Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa) said in a report that the Filipino carrier’s recent code-share agreement with All Nippon Airways (ANA) “is a solid first move for the LT Group” after it assumed control of the airline in September.
Under the code-share, ANA will add its designator code to Philippine Airlines-operated flights not only between Japan and the Philippines, but also domestic flights within the Philippines.
The Filipino carrier will also add its designator code to flights between Japan and the Philippines and domestic flights within Japan operated by ANA.
Passengers between Japan and the Philippines will also be able to take advantage of through check-in reducing minimum connection times at Manila airport from 120 minutes to 90 minutes when connecting to onward domestic flights.
“The new codeshare should significantly improve PAL’s position in Japan, the airlne’s largest international market,” the think tank said.
It said Japan is a strategic market for the Filipino carrier, as it accounts for 22 percent of the airline’s total international seat capacity.
The expanded tie-up with the Japanese carrier is also a “sensible option for PAL” as it would complement the planned New York operations of the Manila-based airline.
The Tan-led carrier will be launching flights to New York via Vancouver from Manila in March 2015.
But despite the agreement with the Japanese carrier, the legacy airline will be needing more strategic alliances with other carriers to make PAL more competitive in the long-haul market.
“PAL will need a much bigger and stronger portfolio of partners—and ideally a strategic partner—to be successful in the intensely competitive long-haul market. As PAL becomes more visible in the international market and thus more potentially useful to partners, the quest should grow easier,” Capa said.
PAL has code share agreements with eight other carriers, namely: Air Macau, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Garuda Indonesia, Gulf Air, Malaysia Airlines and Vietnam Airlines.
It operates in 29 domestic and 35 international destinations.
The group of taipan Lucio C. Tan is now managing the airline, after it bought the entire stake of San Miguel Corp. in PAL for $1 billion last month.