Philippine Airlines said Friday it will mount flights to Saipan in June as part of a strategy to expand in the international market.
The Lucio Tan-led airline said the twice weekly service between Manila and Saipan, a US territory in the Pacific, would start on June 15.
One of the largest islands in the Northern Marianas, Saipan is four hours away from Manila. The new flights are on code share with PAL Express.
“Saipan is home to thousands of Filipinos. Opening this new route will provide our kababayans that much-needed link to their homeland. On top of that, business and leisure travelers from Saipan now have the opportunity to experience PAL’s brand of service that is uniquely Filipino,” said PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista.
PAL on March 15 will start flying to Los Angeles from Cebu.
PAL since 2015 has opened new destinations, namely New York, Jinjang in China, Cairns, Auckland, Kuwait and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
PAL’s new A330-300 will be the fleet for the new Mid-East routes.
Bautista earlier said PAL was set to sign a $1-billion deal with an aircraft manufacturer for six long-range, twin-engine wide-body jets next month.
Bautista did not identify the aircraft manufacturer, but he earlier said the company was looking at either Airbus A350 or Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
PAL Holdings Inc., the holding company of PAL, posted a net income of P6.55 billion in the first nine months of last year from P169.1 million in the same period in 2014.
PAL ’s total revenues for the nine months reached P81.99 billion, up 10.8 percent from P73.98 billion during the same months in 2014.
PAL attributed the favorable performance to higher passenger revenues and other revenues generated during the period.