Philippine Airlines is the flag carrier of the Philippines and the oldest airline in Asia with 75 years of operations. They have embarked on the ambitious journey to become a premium, 5-star airline. They have added new planes, reconfigured them with better seats and more space in all cabins and improved food, entertainment and service offerings.
Philippine Airlines – who are they? Philippine Airlines (airline code PR, usually referred to as PAL) is based out of Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL), the notoriously over-crowded airport of the Philippine capital.
After going through financial troubles and struggling with the onslaught of low-cost competitors in Asia, Philippine Airlines has embarked on an ambitious journey to become a 5-star, premium airline to compete with Singapore Airlines, ANA or EVA Air! They reached a milestone this year, being recognized as a 4-star airline by SkyTrax! That puts them ahead of all US airlines and on par with some of my favorites, like Thai Airways!
AirlineRatings gives them a perfect 7 out of 7 star rating for safety, and the same for their subsidiary PAL Express. This improvement is a result of an improved rating for the Philippines as the operating countr
Philippine Airlines Destinations: PAL is currently serving 105 destinations in 19 countries. 50 destinations are international, with a focus on Asia.
PAL’s only destination in Europe is currently London, UK, but Philippine Airlines is considering flights to France, Germany, Italy or the Netherlands with the new A350 planes entering the fleet.
In the Middle East, PAL is serving Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, with plans to fly to Israel.
In North America, Philippine Airlines has non-stop flights to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Toronto and most recently New York, also courtesy of new A350 capable of those long distances! Toronto is served with a stop-over in Vancouver. Future flights are planned to Houston, Seattle and Chicago!
Philippine Airlines has a long list of destinations across Asia and Pacific, making it a good choice for one-stop flights from North America.
The remaining 55 cities are domestic destinations, spread out over the more than 7,000 islands that make up the Philippines!
Philippine Airlines Fleet: Philippine Airlines uses a fleet of 58 planes with an average age of only 4.2 years, thanks to a recent push to renew and grow their fleet!. New Airbus A330 and A350 are replacing much older Boeing B747 and Airbus A340 on long-haul routes and introducing new cabin products to support the push to become a premium, 5-star airline.
They feature a Business Class with lie-flat seats and all aisle access, a very competitive product., and introduced a new Premium Economy cabin with more legroom, more recline and a large personal video screen. The A330 has one of the most comfortable Economy Class cabin, with seats in a 2-4-2 layout, compared to the 3-3-3 layout common on low-cost carriers.
On short-haul routes, Philippine Airlines flies a mix of Airbus A320 and A321 planes. Some of them are configured for mid-haul flights with lie-flat business class seats, an innovative offering few airlines have on single-aisle planes in Asia! The majority of A320/A321 are configured with more typical recliner seats in business class for shorter flights.
They also operate another 35 planes under the PAL Express brand, but with the same logo and sold through Philippine Airlines, including 18 A320/321 and 17 Bombardier Q300/400 turboprop planes. These planes operate mostly domestically