Philippine Airlines said Monday it expects the delivery of two Boeing 777-300 ER units in December for its flights to the United Kingdom and the United States.
“The Boeing aircraft will serve the Manila-London route, a move designed to primarily enhance the total passenger travel experience and inflight service delivery. While we already have eight triple 7s serving the West Coast, the incoming units will also augment other trans-Pacific flights,” PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista said.
“The Boeing 777 is our flagship aircraft for long-haul operations. With its range and operational capability, the flag carrier will be at par with other full service carriers along the route,” he said.
Bautista said PAL was also increasing its capacity as the aircraft would have a 370-seating capacity on a two-class configuration (42 on business and 328 on economy), compared to the 254-seating capacity of Airbus A340.
The acquisition of the carrier’s 9th and 10th B777s is based on a long-term lease agreement with Intrepid Aviation.PAL aims to be the country’s full-service five-star airline in five years.
Its fleet modernization includes the acquisition of six brand new Airbus A350s for delivery starting mid-2018 and the reconfiguration of 8 monoclass Airbus A330s to tri-class lay-out by mid July.
PAL parent firm PAL Holdings Inc. posted a net income of P3.59 billion last year, down by 38.8 percent from P5.87 billion in 2015. Revenues climbed 7.2 percent to P116.63 billion last year from P108.80 billion in 2015.