Philippines Flag Carrier Prepares to Resume Flights to London

[Terpe]

The Philippines Department of Tourism (PDOT) is most pleased with the decision of the European Union (EU) to lift its ban on the Philippines, which will now allow Philippine Airlines (PAL) to operate fights to the 28-nation bloc.

“This is very good news for the Philippine aviation industry as this means that the EU now recognizes the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) as an aviation authority that competently qualifies airlines in the Philippines.

Sourced from the Philippines Tourism E-Newsletter July 2013 - It's More Fun in the Philippines Newsletter - 77th Issue

[Jamesey]

This is very good news!

[Arthur Little]

PAL, the Philippine flag carrier, aims to reclaim its flight entitlement of 7 times a week to London, Paris and other European cities and has plans to commence flights by the third quarter of this year. Once activated, this is seen to further boost the growing tourism that the Philippines is experiencing in the last two years.

Ramon Ang, Chief Executive of PAL, announced, “PAL flights will be faster than any carrier that take 18 to 24 hours from Manila to Europe. Our flights will take you 12 to 13 hours one way compared to other airline flights when you still have to wait for several hours in their hubs.” In addition, Ang said that their pricing to Europe will be very competitive with existing carriers.

... roll~on, PAL!

[Ako Si Jamie]

12 to 13 hours? Bring it on!

[Slip]

Would be nice..... Be even better if my work got the contract for them at Heathrow...... We already handle Malaysian airlines, china southern and Brunei that fly to Manila, albeit with a stopover in there respective countries.


And no they dont like to give discounts! Best I can hope for is an upgrade.... on the first leg of the flight.

[Dedworth]

Job opportunities for Filipinos at Heathrow

[malchard888]

Job opportunities for Filipinos at Heathrow

More likely Gatwick rather than Heathrow but I hope I am wrong

[Dedworth]

More likely Gatwick rather than Heathrow but I hope I am wrong

Yep I didn't think about that

[Slip]

More likely Gatwick rather than Heathrow but I hope I am wrong

Good point, unless an airline gives up a slot or pulls out of Heathrow then I do believe there are no available slots for a new carrier at Heathrow at this present time.

[malchard888]

Good point, unless an airline gives up a slot or pulls out of Heathrow then I do believe there are no available slots for a new carrier at Heathrow at this present time.

Yes quite correct Slip, I remember reading that China Souhern waited 8 years to get slots @ Heathrow unlike Silkway from Azerbaijan who appeared to get slots very easily, then again theres oil in them hills and that talks far more than tourism so I fear Philippine Airlines may be relegated to Gatwick.

[Slip]

Ah, Azerbaijan.... yet another airline I work with...... they actually took a departing airlines slot.... for the life of me I cant remember who.

[malchard888]

Yes Slip only way is when an airline leaves Heathrow or relinquishes some slots ,however the pecking order for those in waiting may well be manipulated and be politically motivated not to mention that deep pockets are also a necessity too.

[Terpe]

Yes quite correct Slip, I remember reading that China Souhern waited 8 years to get slots @ Heathrow unlike Silkway from Azerbaijan who appeared to get slots very easily, then again theres oil in them hills and that talks far more than tourism so I fear Philippine Airlines may be relegated to Gatwick.

I rather like Gatwick.
Just went in and out a few days ago and it's well organised, spacious and fast-processing.

[lordna]

I rather like Gatwick.
Just went in and out a few days ago and it's well organised, spacious and fast-processing.

I live about 12 miles from Gatwick...so obviously hoping PAL will fly from there. Not only that my wife would love to work at the airport...anybody know if PAL are hiring?

[Terpe]

I live about 12 miles from Gatwick...so obviously hoping PAL will fly from there. Not only that my wife would love to work at the airport...anybody know if PAL are hiring?

I think they would have to.
Might be better to write and ask, no harm in trying and nothing to lose.
That would be a great job for her.

[Dedworth]

I think they would have to.
Might be better to write and ask, no harm in trying and nothing to lose.
That would be a great job for her.

If you don't ask you don't get

http://www.philippineairlines.com/co...ed_Kingdom.jsp

GSA United Kingdom
Aviareps PLC Aviareps House Gatwick Road Crawley
West Sussex RH10 9RB
England
Tel :44 (0) 1293 596-680
Fax : 44 (0) 1293 596-658
e-mail : PAL.UK@aviareps-group.com
Office Hours:
Mondays to Fridays: 9:00 - 17:30
Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays: Closed

[DaveW]

I can't wait to see what sort of prices they offer.
As it will be the fastest way to get to Philippines will that reflect in the price?
I have just paid £475 with Cathay Pacific to fly on Sept 4th, which is the cheapest i have paid for a long time. If PAL can do around the £500 mark then i'm sure their flights will be pretty full

[grahamw48]

Great news !

They used to fly from Gatwick before...never had any problems with them in the past, and always good on price.

Hitching down to the airport is going to be more of a challenge now I'm a bit older though.

Pleeeeese fly from Manchester also.

[robbie bobby]

My guess would they would probably be flying from Gatwick and the prices would be between Etihad and KLM prices as they will be codeshare partners.in the 500-700 pound region rtrn

[Slip]

Good news....

My work were showing a group of Filipinos our facilities today...

Apparently PAL will be flying from Heathrow airport (not sure how many times a week) From November....

I've heard they will be flying from Gatwick also (although don't know if that is true or not)

[Terpe]

Watch this space eh..........................

Hard to imagine how PAL could secure slots at Heathrow, but then who knows......

[malchard888]

just found the following link, it appears that from 4th November they will operate 5 times a week ex LHR, now that is good news for Friday the 13th
http://airlineroute.net/2013/09/13/p...=pr-mnllhr-w13

[SimonH]

Nothing on their website, and as their office is located at Gatwick

[Terpe]

just found the following link, it appears that from 4th November they will operate 5 times a week ex LHR, now that is good news for Friday the 13th
http://airlineroute.net/2013/09/13/p...=pr-mnllhr-w13

Nice find

[Michael Parnham]

If it happens, will try them next time as long as the price is right!

[SimonH]

This is the answer that I got from them:-


Thank you for your interest in Philippine Airlines.

At present we do not have details of the exact commencement date of the flights to Manila, although we expect this to be early November. If you are happy for me to do so I will hold your details on file. As soon as we are able to offer you more information about the commencement date of the flights and information about the booking procedures, I will let you know by email.


Best regards
Lynn van der Lugt
Account Executive
Aviareps PLC

Philippine Airlines
General Sales Agent

[SimonH]

Just checked with Kayak for flights in December and it looks like you can book with PAL flying from Heathrow as malchard888 said and not Gatwick as I thought. Will look into it a bit more and see if I can find out when they start flying from and what the prices are like.

[SimonH]

Earliest flights available are 4th November at............


wait for it.............








£888.75 return

[Terpe]

Current prices with other carriers around £500 - £680

Can't see PAL putting sufficient bums on seats at that price.............but then again Pinoy pride

[MHG]

Post moved to existing current thread



It´s been long in the pipe ...

PAL/PR will fly five weekly non-stop flights MNL-LHR-MNL using B 777-300ER aircraft starting november 4.
Flights are already bookable (almost everywhere - except on their own website - seems their IT is a bit slow ...)

Schedules are as follows:

PR720 MNL0805 – 1400LHR 77W 1
PR720 MNL0820 – 1415LHR 77W 47
PR720 MNL0830 – 1425LHR 77W 36

PR721 LHR1615 – 1250+1MNL 77W 1
PR721 LHR1715 – 1350+1MNL 77W 47
PR721 LHR1905 – 1540+1MNL 77W 36

Don´t be confused by relatively high initial prices. No airline in the world will sell the cheapest seats right away from the beginning. They need to "test the waters" first ...
Actually I made a sample booking (LHR-MNL-LHR out nov 4 return nov 10) and the lowest return-fare given was 983.75 GBP all-in ...

And they haven´t yet issued real through fares to provincial destinations in the Phils.
Fares to e.g. CEB are at the moment around 1200-1300,-GBP