FILIPINO travelers will experience flying over the Polar region early next year when the Philippine Airlines (PAL) of PAL Holdings Inc. commences its 15-hour nonstop flight from Manila to New York.
This historic event, the longest nonstop flight ever taken by a PAL plane, would be possible using the first A350-900 ULR (the ULR stands for “ultralong range”) that is due for delivery in midyear 2018, PAL President and CEO Jaime J. Bautista said.
The distance from Manila to New York via the polar route is 13,691 kilometers (8,507 miles).
Presently, PAL flies to the Big Apple from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) to Vancouver, then on to New York, a total of 18 hours.
“PAL is scheduled to receive delivery of the first A350-900 URL in March 2018,” says Butista, adding three more A350 ULR will arrive in 2018 and two more in 2019 for a total of six A350s.
The most common question being asked by travelers is why not fly directly to New York from Manila across the Pacific Ocean?
“The Earth is a globe, it is spherical, and a Polar route, or a great circle route, would take the airplane the shortest distance between the two points,” retired PAL captain Sonny Jose explained.
The map people usually see is a flat map drawn on a flat paper and, since it is two-dimensional, it appears that flying from Manila to New York is the logical choice, he added.
Under study
BAUTISTA said the carrier is still studying possible non-stop flights to Europe and elsewhere but, at the moment, the rest of the A350 would be fielded to any of the following United States locations: Seattle, Chicago, Miami and San Diego.
He said that, by December 6 this year, PAL will start operating a nonstop thrice weekly service on the highly popular Manila-Auckland route.
These flights will significantly bring down travel time from the current 13.6 hours to 10 hours.
PR 218 departs Manila every Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday at 11:15 p.m., and arrives in Auckland at 2:05 p.m. local time the following day. PR 219 leaves Auckland every Friday, Saturday and Tuesday at 12:30 a.m. local time, and touches down in Manila at 5:45 a.m.
The airline currently operates flights to New Zealand with a Cairns, Australia, stopover utilizing the narrow-body Airbus A320. The new service will mean a shift to the Airbus A340 aircraft.
Based on data on international arrivals from the Department of Tourism, the Philippines last year saw total residents from New Zealand arriving at 23,431, a 14-percent increase from 2015 levels. In the first half of the year, New Zealand visitors increased more than 30 percent from 2016 figures. According to Tourism New Zealand, the number of Filipinos who visited New Zealand in the year has reached 23,000, a 103-percent growth over a three-year period.
By December 16 PAL will also be flying nonstop, thrice weekly from Manila to Toronto, Canada.
The nonstop service via the Boeing 777 (PR 118) will reduce travel time from 16 hours to 14.4 hours. PR 118 leaves Manila every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 4:15 p.m. and arrives in Toronto at 5:55 p.m. local time on the same day.
More flights
PAL is slated to accept delivery of two more Boeing 777-300s in December and two Airbus A350-900s within the first half of 2018. These orders will allow the flag carrier to add nonstop frequencies between Manila and the US West Coast and open a nonstop Manila-New York service. This service currently stops over in Vancouver.
PAL will also be introducing into service the long-range version of the Airbus A321 NEOs, which will enable the flag carrier to open new nonstop routes, such as Manila-Brisbane and Manila-New Delhi.
On December 1 PAL will open new routes out of Cebu, which will further enhance the Visayan hub’s connectivity with Northern Mindanao and the Bicol region. The new routes will utilize PAL’s Bombardier Q400 Next Generation turboprops.
By December 15 and January 15, 2018, PAL will open more new routes to and from Clark. The new domestic operations are expected to relieve congestion at the Naia.