Philippine Airlines (PAL) said Friday it signed a temporary lease agreement with Wamos Air, one of Europe’s leading charter and wet lease carriers, to ensure smooth operations during the upcoming peak travel season.
The airline unit of tycoon Lucio Tan said the accord would take effect on June 1, 2024. In a wet lease arrangement, the lessor provides aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance to another airline for a specified period.
PAL is leasing two Airbus A330-200s with a dual-class configuration for its Manila- Sydney and Manila-Melbourne routes for a five-month period.
It said passengers would enjoy amenities comparable to PAL’s A330 and receive the same on-ground and inflight services available on a PAL flight. PAL cabin crew members will be on board to ensure the delivery of PAL’s trademark brand of service, it said.
“We have additional maintenance requirements during this period due to global supply chain issues that continue to impact the industry,” said PAL president and chief operating officer Stanley Ng.
“We see the need to temporarily add these aircraft to ensure that we have sufficient capacity to meet the demand that we are anticipating across our network,” he said.
“We chose Wamos Air because of their track record as one of Europe’s leading charter carriers. We are working closely with the carrier to ensure that our passengers will continue to receive the service quality they can expect from Philippine Airlines,” Ng said.
Wamos Air of Spain is certified by the International Air Transport Association’s Operational Safety Audit, and has successfully completed wet-lease operations for over 50 airlines globally
PAL operates daily flights to Sydney and five-times weekly services to Melbourne.
