Tag Archives: Philippine Airlines

Philippines retires its last Boeing 747

Philippines-Philippine Airlines (Manila) today (September 1) operated its last Boeing 747 revenue flight. The last flight with a Boeing 747-400 touched down from San Francisco early this morning at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, ending an era that has spanned 35 years according to Philippine Flight Network.

The Boeing 747 entered service with Philippine Airlines in December 1979, when the carrier took delivery of its first Boeing 747-200B. PAL added its first Boeing 747-400 in November 1993.

Boeing 747-4F6 RP-C7473 (msn 27828) operated the last flight. RP-C7473 departed San Francisco on August 31 for the last time with 285 passengers on board according to PFN.

Read the full story with photos from Philippine Flight Network: CLICK HERE

Top Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Sister ship Boeing 747-4F6 RP-C8168 (msn 27827) was a familiar sight at Los Angeles International Airport.

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Bottom Copyright Photo: SM Fitzwilliams Collection/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 747-2F6B N741PR (msn 21832) holds short of the runway at London’s Gatwick Airport.

Philippines will now retire the last Boeing 747 on August 31

Philippines (Philippine Airlines) (Manila) is now planning to operate the last Boeing 747 revenue flight on June 30. According to Airline Route, the final roundtrip will be operated on June 30 (see update below) between Manila and San Francisco and back. The 747s are being replaced by newer Boeing 777-300 ERs which will be operated on the San Francisco route starting on July 1 (now September 1).

Update: Philippines has extended Boeing 747-400 operations until August 31, 2014 according to an update by Airline Route.

Copyright Photo: Steve Bailey/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 747-4F6 RP-C8168 (msn 27827) departs from Los Angeles International Airport.

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Philippines introduces the Boeing 777-300 ER to the Manila-Los Angeles route

Philippines (Philippine Airlines) (Manila) today (May 3) introduces the Boeing 777-300 ER on the Manila-Los Angeles route.

Copyright Photo: John Adlard/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 777-36N ER RP-C7777 (msn 37709) arrives down under in Sydney, Australia.

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Philippines to retire the last Boeing 747 in May

Philippines (Philippine Airlines) (Manila) will retire 20 aging aircraft from its fleet this year including its last Boeing 747-400 later in the month of May. The 747s are being replaced by newer Boeing 777-300 ERs.

Read the full report from the Business Mirror: CLICK HERE

Top Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 747-4F6 RP-C8168 (msn 27827) climbs away from the runway at Los Angeles International Airport.

Philippines Slide Show: CLICK HERE

Bottom Copyright Photo: Rolf Wallner/AirlinersGallery.com. PAL has been a long-time Boeing 747 operator. This historic photo shows Boeing 747-2F6B N741PR (msn 21832) with special Mabuhay! Chicago sub-titles at Zurich.

Philippine Airlines takes delivery of its first Airbus A321

Philippine Airlines (PAL) (Philippines) (Manila) has taken delivery of its first Airbus A321. The aircraft was handed over at the Airbus delivery center in Hamburg (Finkenwerder), Germany on August 6 and is the first of 64 new Airbus aircraft ordered by the airline in 2012 under a major fleet modernization program. These include 44 single aisle A321s and 20 widebody A330s.

Philippine Airlines has specified a two class layout for its A321s, with 12 seats in Business Class and 187 in Economy. The airline will operate its new A321s primarily on international routes across the Asian region, as well as on selected domestic flights.

The A321 joins an Airbus fleet at Philippine Airlines that already includes 22 A320 Family aircraft flying on domestic and regional routes, as well as nine in service with its budget subsidiary PAL Express. The carrier also operates eight widebody A330s on higher capacity routes across Asia and seven A340-300s on its longest services to the United States.

Following the introduction of the A321, Philippine Airlines will take delivery of the first of its 20 new A330s in the third quarter of the year. The carrier is also currently adding four A340-300s to its fleet for deployment on new non-stop services to Europe, scheduled to begin next month.

Copyright Photo: Gerd Beilfuss/AirlinersGallery.com. The pictured Airbus A321-231 D-AZAS (msn 5715) on a test flight at Hamburg (Finkenwerder) on August 5 became RP-C9901 on the hand over the following day.

Update: PAL introduced the new A321 on August 9 between Manila and Cebu and Manila and Davao.

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Philippine Airlines to continue Toronto flights

Philippine Airlines (Philippines) (Manila) was planning to drop all service to Toronto (Pearson) on September 18 per Airline Route. The flag carrier was serving YYZ via an extension of the Manila-Vancouver route three days a week.

Update: According to Airline Route, PAL appears to have reversed its decision and has re-opened reservations for Toronto flights after September 18.

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Philippine Airlines to return to Europe

Philippine Airlines (Philippines) (Manila) is returning to Europe after an absence of 15 years after the European Union lifted its ban against the carrier. PAL intends to fly again to London, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Rome and Madrid.

The airline issued this statement:

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Philippine Airlines expands with 12 new routes

Philippine Airlines (PAL) (Philippines) (Manila) has announced the launching of 12 new destinations to Australia, China, Malaysia and the Middle East, including a new domestic service to Northern Luzon in the continuing expansion of PAL’s route network.

The 12 new destinations include Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) starting on May 2; Darwin, Brisbane and Perth (Australia) on June 1; Guangzhou (China) on June 2; Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) on October 1; Doha (Qatar) on November 1; Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam (Saudi Arabia) on December 1; Dubai (United Arab Emirates) on November 1 and Basco, Batanes on May 1 (the last two to be operated by PAL Express).

PAL’s current network, operated with PAL Express, consists of 32 domestic and 28 international destinations.

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Philippines to fly to Toronto starting on November 30

Philippines (Philippines Airlines) (Manila) has announced it will add Toronto (Pearson) and the nonstop Manila-Toronto route on November 30. The return routing will stop at Vancouver.

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Philippine Airlines orders 54 Airbus aircraft

Philippine Airlines (Philippines) (PAL) (Manila) has placed a firm order with Airbus covering 34 A321ceo, 10 A321neo and 10 A330-300s. The aircraft are being purchased under a major fleet modernization programme at the airline, with deliveries starting in 2013.

The single aisle A321 aircraft are being purchased to enhance the airline’s product offerings on domestic and regional routes, as well as to support alliances with its partner airlines. The widebody A330s will be operated on higher demand regional routes and longer range services to the Middle East and Australia. PAL will announce engine selections for all the aircraft at a later date.

Image: Airbus.

Philippines Slide Show: