Philippine Airlines said Thursday it will start operating non-stop flights from Manila to Toronto, Canada and to Auckland, New Zealand next month.
The flag carrier currently operates flights to New Zealand with a stopover in Cairns, Australia, utilizing the narrow-body Airbus A320. The new service will mean a shift to the more comfortable wide-body Airbus A340 aircraft more suitable for long-haul flights.
Data on international arrivals from the Department of Tourism showed that 23,431 New Zealand residents visited the Philippines in 2016, reflecting a 14-percent increase from 2015.
New Zealand visitors increased more than 30 percent In the first half of 2017 from a year ago.
About 23,000 Filipinos also visited New Zealand last year.
PAL said it would also fly non-stop thrice weekly from Manila to Toronto, using Boeing 777, which would reduce travel time from 16 hours to 14.4 hours.
PAL is set to accept delivery of two more Boeing 777-300s in December and two Airbus A350-900s in the first half of 2018.
These orders will allow the flag carrier to add non-stop frequencies between Manila and the US West Coast and open a non-stop Manila – New York service. Currently, the MNL-NYC service stops over in Vancouver.
PAL said for the meantime, it would introduce the long-range version of the Airbus A321 NEOs, which would enable the flag carrier to open new non-stop routes such as Manila to Brisbane and Manila to New Delhi.
PAL will also open new routes out of Cebu on Dec. 1 to further enhance the Visayan hub’s connectivity with Northern Mindanao and the Bicol Region.
The new routes – which will utilize PAL’s Bombardier Q400 Next Generation turboprops are Cebu -Siargao, Cebu-Camiguin, Cebu-Ozamiz and Cebu-Legaspi. It will also launch flights from Clark to Legaspi, Masbate Calbayog and Catarman on the same day.