PR operated their first MNL-AKL non stop today using an A343. Operates 3 weekly.

ZK-NBT wrote:

PR operated their first MNL-AKL non stop today using an A343. Operates 3 weekly.

Thanks...any info on the number of passengers?


PAL announces their A359's delivery schedule.....

http://philippineairspace.blogspot.com/ ... mment-form


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIeeQOLVAAANFXL.jpg

Quote:
"Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) has announced that it will take delivery of the A350-900 ultra-long haul aircraft beginning June 2018 with first flight bound to Toronto, Canada.

The changed plan was brought by regulatory delays which prompted the airline to defer inaugural Manila to New York direct flight which is tentatively set as early as August 2018 coinciding with the delivery of the second A350.

The airline will take delivery of four 295 seater Airbus A350-900 with 3 class configuration in 2018 with the first frame arriving in June, according to PAL President Jaime J. Bautista.

'We will receive another one in August, September and December,' Bautista remarks.

In the meantime, two new Boeing 777-300ER planes will be arriving in the Philippines on December 16 and 19 according to PAL for rotations to North America and London."


So.....no livery tweaks.



Meanwhile, tycoons signal their interest to bid for NAIA's upgrade and renovation.....

http://business.inquirer.net/242132/tyc ... -rehab-bid

Quote:
"Seven of the country’s biggest conglomerates confirmed they were looking at rehabilitating and redeveloping the Ninoy Aquino International Airport— the strongest signal yet from the private sector on the pressing need to upgrade the country’s busiest air gateway.

The companies included Andrew Tan’s Alliance Globe Group Inc., Ayala Corp., Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., Manuel V. Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Gotianun-led Filinvest Development Corp., Gokongwei-led JG Summit Holdings Inc. and Lucio Tan’s LT Group.

Two of those groups, JG Summit and LT Group, own the country’s two largest commercial air carriers, Cebu Pacific Air and Philippine Airlines, respectively.

[.....]

They confirmed their potential participation in separate, similarly worded statements. Without confirming talks with each other, each group said discussions were still exploratory and no formal agreement had been signed.

A source noted that the groups were bound by confidentiality agreements.

'It is exciting and will benefit the Filipino people and the economy significantly,' the source said.

The groups are expected to submit an unsolicited offer, which would later require a competitive challenge."


Not a moment too soon!

295 seater? That’s less than the recently reconfigured 309 sweater a330 ...

According to another forum it’s as follows

BCL - 30 (1-2-1 config)
PECY - 24 (2-4-2)
ECY - 241 (3-3-3)

Yahnih wrote:

295 seater? That’s less than the recently reconfigured 309 sweater a330 ...

Well, PR is striving to raise its rating...and both are very long, nonstop polar sectors they're intending to deploy the A359 on.

Yahnih wrote:

According to another forum it’s as follows

BCL - 30 (1-2-1 config)
PECY - 24 (2-4-2)
ECY - 241 (3-3-3)

It's a bit more premium but it all adds up. I was expecting a somewhat reversed seat count giving 6 rows for J and ~3.75 rows for Y+. We'd know for sure soon enough when PR releases the official seat plan. Or better yet, actual interior photos or videos.

Devilfish wrote:

cityairline wrote:

Hope the government will move faster for a solution!

Sweden is offering assistance in that regard.....

http://www.philstar.com/business/2017/1 ... evelopment

Thanks for the news, as a half-Swede/half-Filipino that's good news to me
Although I didn't know we had any expertise in airport congestion matters, when space is all we have up here...
And when it comes to airport development and infrastructure, I would place us far from the top in European rankings. I even work at one of Sweden's major airports and the list of things that could be improved is endless... But an interesting collaboration nontheless!


Does anyone know anything more about this? Even if this is "just" the first half, didn't this come very fast out of nowhere?
https://business.inquirer.net/241910/1s ... january-18

cityairline wrote:

I even work at one of Sweden's major airports and the list of things that could be improved is endless... But an interesting collaboration nontheless!

I think they're mostly interested in technology heavy data processing, airport communications and air traffic control systems. Although I'm mostly intrigued about their Gripen E.

cityairline wrote:

Does anyone know anything more about this? Even if this is "just" the first half, didn't this come very fast out of nowhere?
https://business.inquirer.net/241910/1s ... january-18

The rail connection to CRK had seen a series of fits and starts. It couldn't have come soon enough. Relative to that is this piece of news.....

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/950855/ch ... lway-homes

Quote:
"As of the latest count, 638 families are staying on the abandoned tracks of the PNR project from Manila to Clark, part of the road right-of-way for the new railway project to be built using Japan’s official development assistance.

Timothy John Batan, transportation assistant secretary for railways, said 414 families would be resettled to make way for Phase 1 of the project that runs from Tutuban in Divisoria, Manila, to the City of Malolos in Bulacan province.

That number, Batan said, was based on the project’s post detailed engineering resettlement action plan.

Phase 2 of the project from the City of Malolos to Clark will call for the relocation of 224 families, a number that 'may still change during the project’s detailed engineering design,' he said."


And while I wish the trains to be like this.....


https://www.comeca-group.com/sites/defa ... trains.jpg

.....the project is being funded by JICA, so the rolling stock would likely be Japanese as well.


I'm wondering if they could extend the tracks from the Nichols train station to have direct spur access to NAIA terminals.....


https://s3.amazonaws.com/carmudi-blogs/ ... 00x505.jpg


There's already a proposal to connect NAIAX to BGC.....


//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2017092 ... 612a26.jpg

The Inquirer reports that the Government is receptive to big business' unsolicited proposal to develop and modernize NAIA.....

http://business.inquirer.net/242318/gov ... ehab-offer


At the same time, the paper's editorial decries the lack of a definite policy with regards to aviation in the country.....

http://opinion.inquirer.net/109387/need ... ort-policy

Quote:
"The move is also an indication of the reluctance of big business to move away from Naia, which is now bursting at the seams servicing more than 42 million passengers a year, or 40 percent above its design capacity.

PAL has been lukewarm to the idea of moving away from Naia and, in fact, proposed last August a P20-billion annex building to Naia’s Terminal 2 to augment capacity. PAL has been operating mainly out of Terminal 2 of the Naia complex.

The problem is that the government remains undecided on what to do with the congestion at Naia.

Last year, the Department of Transportation put on hold a P75-billion public-private partnership project to develop and privatize the operations of Naia.

The government seems bent — so far — on expanding Clark International Airport in Pampanga — another alternative—without saying a word about the fate of Naia.

Clark has received both positive and negative feedback from stakeholders — although the main problem of its distance to the metropolis could be remedied by a high-speed railway from the airport all the way to Bonifacio Global City.

The latest unsolicited proposal is indeed a significant development, but could be delayed by the uncertainty in the aviation industry where government policy is either lacking or flipflopping".


If they would not provide direct rail access into the airport, then they should at least build a nice, secure station at the location of the present one where airport shuttles could stop and wait to pick up and drop off passengers at regular intervals. With the influence and financial clout of the proponents, perhaps they might even be able to buyout the property owners adjacent to the airport perimeter to build a parallel runway in the near future.



Cebu Pacific has announced the start of MNL-MEL service starting middle of 2018 using A330-300.....

http://philippineairspace.blogspot.com/ ... s-mel.html

Quote:
"Low cost carrier Cebu Pacific has announced that it will fly from Manila to Melbourne by the middle of 2018.

[.....]

Manataring said the airline requested for 872 seats between Manila and Melbourne equivalent to thrice a week schedule on the A330-300 which the airline intends to use."



In the meantime, 5J has also received its latest ATR72-600.....

http://www.philstar.com/business/2017/1 ... d-aircraft

Quote:
"MANILA, Philippines — Leading carrier Cebu Pacific Air took delivery of a brand-new ATR 72-600 aircraft, bringing its total fleet size to 62 planes. This new ATR 72-600 is the eighth of the 16 firm orders CEB made with the Franco-Italian aircraft manufacturer in 2016."




And finally, a glimpse into one of the terminal proposals for CRK.....


http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b25/i ... 2cj7gs.jpg


Looks like the billion dollar terminal upthread in one of the -Stans.

Is that a Boeing airbus hyrbid plane in that concept art!?? Bc I can’t tell if it’s supposed to be widebody or narrowbody gate Terminal

Yahnih wrote:

Is that a Boeing airbus hyrbid plane in that concept art!?? Bc I can’t tell if it’s supposed to be widebody or narrowbody gate Terminal

What I'm concerned about is how this jives in with the overall CRK development plan, and those planes overhanging the GSE lanes. Design aircraft lengths should at least include the 777Xs, A35K, 787-10, A330NEOs and A321(22), 73J, CSeries and the future 797 (NMA) ...and contact gates defined per aircraft category. It would be enlightening to know the aircraft mix and volume wrt forecast demand and growth, to determine the number of gates, spacings and aircraft movements per day, as well as the terminal's designed annual pax carrying capacity. The bid committee might announce the detailed terms of reference after the proposal opening on Friday.

I can imagine those PR tails being swamped once the proponent across the water wins.



Meanwhile, look who's backing the NAIAX's extension to BGC..... .....

http://www.philstar.com/business/2017/1 ... ension-bgc

So...it appears GMR-Megawide is the lowest bidder for CRK international airport's Terminal 2..... .....


http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b25/i ... o19mjp.jpg

http://business.inquirer.net/242504/cla ... r-terminal

Quote:
"A venture between Megawide Construction Corp. and India’s GMR Infrastructure emerged as the frontrunner Thursday in a public auction to build a new passenger terminal for Clark International Airport in Pampanga province. Megawide-GMR, which operates the Mactan Cebu International Airport, bested four other groups, including big state-owned firms in China.

The Duterte administration, through the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, has committed to expand Clark Airport, an underused air gateway it wants to position as an alternative to the congested Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila.

Megawide-GMR was regarded the frontrunner with its offer to build a new terminal in Clark Airport, estimated by the government to cost P12.55 billion, for P9.36 billion. The lowest qualified bid was the main parameter in Thursday’s auction.

Megawide’s offer was lower than Tokwing Construction Corp. and China Machinery Engineering Corp. (P12.45 billion), China State Construction Engineering Corp. Ltd. (P12.298 billion), China Harbour Engineering Co. Ltd. (P11.73 billion) and Sinohydro Corp. Ltd. (P10.68 billion).

Jake Bingcang, chair of the BCDA special bids and awards committee, said Megawide-GMR’s offer would still be subject to further review in the next few days. He said an award could be ready by Dec. 18, 2017, with groundbreaking of the project set by Dec. 20."


While on the surface Tokwing's proposal is the most expensive among the lot, it seems to offer the biggest potential for future growth (hopefully, actual traffic demand mirrors such a projection) provided the company has a successful track record in building and running an airport. GMR's entry suffers from lack of imagination by rehashing CEB T2's general form...that I wish they could pay the designer of record (AdP?) just to be allowed to construct the conceptual design shown in #200 upthread...and merely run the O&M contract themselves.

But these questions bug me, whoever emerges the final winner. What will they use for a control tower as none of the renderings show any and CRK's existing ATC tower is dilapidated and older than me? Ditto with the runway, taxiways and ramps. Did the bidders each submit a definitive site development plan

Some new flights starting today (15th) and tomorrow (16th):

Today:

PR CRK-BCD
PR CRK-TAG
Z2 CRK-MPH

Tomorrow:

PR CRK-CGY
PR MNL-YYZ (goes NONSTOP)

I also believe PR's 9th and 10th 77W are arriving in the coming days...

cityairline wrote:

PR MNL-YYZ (goes NONSTOP)

I was hoping #9 would do this on its maiden flight homeward but it did not.....

cityairline wrote:

I also believe PR's 9th and 10th 77W are arriving in the coming days...

.....Instead, RP-C7781 repositioned to YVR and flew from there for its first revenue flight home.....

(from 777 T&P Thread).....


https://twitter.com/AeroimagesChris/sta ... 4452947968


http://www.philippineairlines.com/en/ab ... nts/9-b777

Quote:
"Philippine Airlines (PAL) took delivery of its ninth Boeing 777-300ER and will use the new airplane primarily on routes from Manila to North America. The carrier flew the 777-300ER directly from Everett, Washington at 7:32PM US time Dec.14 (11:32AM MNL time Dec.15) to Vancouver, British Columbia, where the airplane will enter revenue service to Manila. PAL's 10th 777 will be delivered in a few days. The new deliveries bring the PAL fleet count to 88."


RP-C7782 will follow shortly.....


https://twitter.com/JenSchuld/status/939252684690825216



Here's Philstar's take on GMR-Megawide's leading position re CRK T2 tender.....

Quote:
"The BCDA official, however, said the Megawide-GMR consortium is not assured yet of winning the project despite submitting the lowest bid.

'They are the lowest rated bid right now. But we’ll make sure they are responsive as well. So there will be clarification of the submitted documents,' he said.

'We’re going to do post-qualification in the next two days and then our board meeting will be on Monday so we’ll request for board approval on the outcome of the bidding, especially on the recommendation on the lowest rated and responsive bid,' Bingcang added.

He said the project will be awarded to the winning proponent next Monday with the project expected to break ground by Wednesday."

Congrats to PR on it''s nonstop to YYZ and the fabulous news the A350 will have It''s first flight to YYZ. Should have some beautiful late evening light in June to see her arrival. Thanks for being the firest A350 to YYZ!!!!

Devilfish wrote:

cityairline wrote:

PR MNL-YYZ (goes NONSTOP)

I was hoping #9 would do this on its maiden flight homeward but it did not.....

cityairline wrote:

I also believe PR's 9th and 10th 77W are arriving in the coming days...

.....Instead, RP-C7781 repositioned to YVR and flew from there for its first revenue flight home.....

(from 777 T&P Thread).....


https://twitter.com/AeroimagesChris/sta ... 4452947968


http://www.philippineairlines.com/en/ab ... nts/9-b777

Quote:
"Philippine Airlines (PAL) took delivery of its ninth Boeing 777-300ER and will use the new airplane primarily on routes from Manila to North America. The carrier flew the 777-300ER directly from Everett, Washington at 7:32PM US time Dec.14 (11:32AM MNL time Dec.15) to Vancouver, British Columbia, where the airplane will enter revenue service to Manila. PAL's 10th 777 will be delivered in a few days. The new deliveries bring the PAL fleet count to 88."


RP-C7782 will follow shortly.....


https://twitter.com/JenSchuld/status/939252684690825216



Here's Philstar's take on GMR-Megawide's leading position re CRK T2 tender.....

Quote:
"The BCDA official, however, said the Megawide-GMR consortium is not assured yet of winning the project despite submitting the lowest bid.

'They are the lowest rated bid right now. But we’ll make sure they are responsive as well. So there will be clarification of the submitted documents,' he said.

'We’re going to do post-qualification in the next two days and then our board meeting will be on Monday so we’ll request for board approval on the outcome of the bidding, especially on the recommendation on the lowest rated and responsive bid,' Bingcang added.

He said the project will be awarded to the winning proponent next Monday with the project expected to break ground by Wednesday."

Boeing Press Release for the delivery of RP-C7781

http://boeing.mediaroom.com/2017-12-15- ... -777-300ER

If the private sector is really that keen on keeping NAIA (while building a new hub, I would assume), here is what IMO should be done while the gov't decides what to do regarding the airport.
1. Demolish T1. No amount of facelifts will be able to fix that basketcase of a terminal.
2. Demolish T4 and build a new terminal for small aircraft.
3. Expand T2. If PAL is really serious in the foreign partner thing, this is the least they can do (and they seem to be willing to).
4. Renovate and expand T3 so it handle more airlines and pax lost from the demolition of T1.

At this point what I'm hoping for is a setup similar to that in Tokyo, where you have one airport (NRT, in this instance) as the global gateway, while you have another airport (HND in the Tokyo example) for domestic operations and select international routes, but I guess we'll only get to see that if PAL is willing to move of out MNL and move to the new airport.




On another note, regarding PR's A359s, any word on the J and Y+ product they'll be using? I'm expecting (and hoping) they'll use the seats they're using on the retrofitted A330s. If they don't that will be a massive disappointment and another misstep by PAL management (which includes installing what is definitely a more inferior J class on their new 777s).

Saw this in SkyscraperCity.....PR's maiden MNL-YYZ flight operated by RP-C7779... ...


//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2017121 ... 5c8458.jpg

Fourteen-hour flight That's making very good time And looks like the track is taking it mostly over northern Canada.....

cityairline wrote:

Some new flights starting today (15th) and tomorrow (16th):

Today:

PR CRK-BCD
PR CRK-TAG
Z2 CRK-MPH

Tomorrow:

PR CRK-CGY

Report in Inquirer.net.....

http://business.inquirer.net/242631/pal ... ghts-clark

Hopefully, none was affected by Urduja.....

idp5601 wrote:

1. Demolish T1. No amount of facelifts will be able to fix that basketcase of a terminal.

T1 is not half as bad after the renovation...one could even say there was a big improvement. Demolishing an expensive facility at a time when NAIA is critically short of terminal space is not only wasteful but downright nonsensical. It's still serving its purpose and can last until the "dream international gateway" becomes reality. Besides, it remains a beautiful, graceful example of Philippine architecture in the 80's.

idp5601 wrote:

2. Demolish T4 and build a new terminal for small aircraft.

This I totally agree with. They can build its replacement near the "LayagIslas" rotonda at the far end of T3 near the UPS warehouse as the photoshopped image in #153 on page 4 shows.

idp5601 wrote:

3. Expand T2. If PAL is really serious in the foreign partner thing, this is the least they can do (and they seem to be willing to).

The question is local tycoons have banded together and proposed to redevelop NAIA for ~P75B...PAL will find it harder to push their ~P20B Annex offer after GMR's <P10B CRK T2 bid emerged the lowest.

idp5601 wrote:

4. Renovate and expand T3 so it handle more airlines and pax lost from the demolition of T1.

There's hardly any more space left to expand T3...and it would require engaging anew with entities involved in the controversial project.

idp5601 wrote:

At this point what I'm hoping for is a setup similar to that in Tokyo, where you have one airport (NRT, in this instance) as the global gateway, while you have another airport (HND in the Tokyo example) for domestic operations and select international routes

Then you must hope that the Government has pockets as deep as Tokyo's too. In the meantime, that arrangement is what MNL/CRK is trying to achieve...on a much smaller scale, of course.



And again from SkyscraperCity...it appears RP-C7779 has finally used a polar routing to avoid the very long flight time for its return to MNL (what with the current snowstorms).


//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2017121 ... f9fdd0.jpg

I wonder what the loads are.....this being the start of the peak holiday season?

Yes very interesting, I followed PR119 every now and then, all day long. It recently touched down in Manila after 16:16 hours in air!
I'm sure loads are very good now a week before chritmas, let us just hope the loads and yields will be sustainable throughout the whole year...

What about the london-manila route.it seems that pal only focuse about theit north american routes.the will lose passengers if they don't fly their newest 777 to london as promised.

cityairline wrote:

Yes very interesting, I followed PR119 every now and then, all day long. It recently touched down in Manila after 16:16 hours in air!

The Inquirer has a longish report on it.....

http://business.inquirer.net/242750/pal ... lar-flight

cityairline wrote:

I'm sure loads are very good now a week before chritmas

According to this, passengers on the 77W were limited to 300 to make the range.....

http://philippineairspace.blogspot.com/

Quote:
"The airline is restricted to carry only about 300 passengers out of the 370 the triple seven can carry on its 14-15 hour 7500nm journey to Toronto and back to Manila due to range issues.

Bautista also expressed that they can fly the Boeing nonstop between Manila and New York but with more payload hit as the latter is farther than Toronto (about 150nm more). Presently, PAL flies to New York with stops in Vancouver for a total journey time of 18-19 hours using the B777.

'These routes can be served well by the A350s reducing flight time by 3-4 hours just like what we've done in Toronto.' Bautista said. 'The arrival of the A350 aircraft will allow us to fly non-stop Manila-New York at full capacity. We should be able to carry the required number of passengers without doing a tech stop, particularly returning to Manila, which is against the wind,' Bautista added."


I guess that's particularly more acute during the Christmas rush as families and friends bring home stuffed 'balikbayan' boxes.....

cityairline wrote:

let us just hope the loads and yields will be sustainable throughout the whole year...

PAL could readily right-size their deployed aircraft on the route to the A350 starting in the second half of 2018.

SleeplessInZh wrote:

What about the london-manila route.it seems that pal only focuse about theit north american routes.the will lose passengers if they don't fly their newest 777 to london as promised.

You can sleep soundly now..... .....

Quote:
"The airline recently re-introduced nonstop flight between Manila and Toronto in December 16 after it accepted delivery of its ninth and tenth Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, all bound for trans-Pacific and London network."


I wish there were more welcome news for our SAN friends but this is all the blog says.....

Quote:
"According to Bautista the rest of the A350 routes would also be in North America as they will soon be deployed to new destinations either in Seattle or San Diego around fourth quarter of next year aside from rotations to San Francisco.

Should Seattle be preferred in the listing, San Diego will be linked via Honolulu under the same amended bilateral with B777 service. Hawaii is currently being served with A330-300 as an end point."

So...there would be the unpopular tech stop again which could lessen the service's appeal...better than nothing I suppose. At least, PR will be using newly refurbished A330s on the route which should placate their more demanding passengers somewhat.

http://philippineairspace.blogspot.com/ ... ation.html


And speaking of their planned fleet expansion, hopefully, the proponents for NAIA's redevelopment are more receptive of PR's request to have its Annex for Terminal 2. .....

Quote:
"Philippine Airlines is hoping to strike a deal with a foreign investor by next year to help the carrier finance wide-body fleet expansion, upgrade services and expand its network globally, particularly on serving two more destinations in Europe.

The airline has order options for four Airbus A330s and six A350s for 2021 delivery. In 2018 the airline will also receive six A321Neos out 21 A321Neo orders up to 2024, and six Q400NG turboprops."



And now it's official.....GMR/Megawide has been awarded the design/build contract for CRK's new international terminal.....

http://business.inquirer.net/242786/gov ... rport-deal


We now await if they could make it a double-whammy by winning the O&M contract as well.....

amadorE175 wrote:

Did those MIA posts in this thread get deleted or was that discussion in one of the other Asia/PR Destination-type threads? I'd like to read them but I can't seem to find them searching for MIA or Miami in this thread.

I couldn't find the relevant posts anymore but the new blog report linked above mentions MIA in passing once more.....

Quote:
"Bautista added that 'while Boeing 777 is our flagship for long-haul flights, its range and operational capacity is not enough to service the eastern seaboard of North America. That would be possible only using the A350-900s.'

Vancouver rights will likewise be extended to Chicago starting next year with B77w aircraft after de-coupling Toronto and New York, while Houston or Miami is planned to be added in 2019 as the airline receives two more frames of the A359.

Chicago and Seattle are planned to be the 6th and 7th gateways while the 8th and 9th is tossed between Houston and Miami."


The other likely PR routes cited are generally in agreement with the different GC route networks posted previously upthread and elsewhere.

I don’t understand why SEA would the preferred over SAN in the first place. SAN has a substantially larger Filipino population as they recorded themselves. If anything they should tag Las Vegas on the San Diego flight.

If they do the 1-stop they have to remain competitive against JAL. & JAL 787s are highly regarded due to their low density configuration. Might as well make it non-stop to really sell the market. I hope that law gets amended to add more destinations.. SEA has a close promximity to both SFO and YVR that already have seamless connections in the NW beyond....

Let PAL come to SAN! Everyone’s been waiting.. and everyone’s tired of taking shuttle buses to LAX. Why else you think most Filipinos are staring to prefer KE, CX, EVA etc... listen to the customers... these customers are willing to take one stops with other Airlines. While the new product is great..PAL needs to gain back a lot of customers they lost over the year. Within the Filipino American community the common phrase is “Plane Always Late”...

I'd say the blog is actually pretty optimistic regarding PR service to SAN! It sounds like we could see service next year (late) and I think that's wonderful! Nonstop would be terrific, or a tag-on via HNL (or YVR) would certainly be better than nothing, and a good start.

Thanks so much Devil' for sharing the news and keeping us updated! (And it's cool to see your interest, Yahnih, on both of the threads involving PR and SAN!)

Happy Holidays!

bb

Yahnih wrote:

I don’t understand why SEA would the preferred over SAN in the first place. SAN has a substantially larger Filipino population as they recorded themselves. If anything they should tag Las Vegas on the San Diego flight.

LAS may not offer much added value due to cabotage. Don't know if the U.S. Census Bureau has a new survey but I believe the map was generated by them.....


https://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/d ... un2013.jpg

While SAN has a bigger Filipino community, it may be that PR wants to establish SEA as its new northwest US connecting point when seeking feed from potential airline partners. SEA won't have impediments for PR nonstop TPAC flights after the airport's ongoing international arrivals facility is completed (assuming route authority is granted). That a service to NRT from SEA was discontinued could be a factor too.

Yahnih wrote:

If they do the 1-stop they have to remain competitive against JAL. & JAL 787s are highly regarded due to their low density configuration. Might as well make it non-stop to really sell the market. I hope that law gets amended to add more destinations.. SEA has a close promximity to both SFO and YVR that already have seamless connections in the NW beyond....

SEA could do away with cross-border complication and is a good match for the A359 capacity wise (a bit of growth reserve, and extra range for flexibility). Also, JAL caters to a more premium market than PR's typical demographic. Doing MNL-SAN nonstop will unduly increase PR's operational costs and the return may be constrained by airfield/terrain features. Both would be unsustainable in the long run... while PR's reconfigured A330s present a pragmatic, viable compromise via the HNL tech stop.

SANFan wrote:

Nonstop would be terrific, or a tag-on via HNL (or YVR) would certainly be better than nothing, and a good start.

I'd say the odds of a nonstop are slim to middling. However, I give due credit to the blogger's efforts.

SANFan wrote:

Thanks so much Devil' for sharing the news and keeping us updated!

You're welcome.....have a merry one yourself. We may be down that way the day after to visit with family.

Alack and alas...there is no mention of a new terminal (let alone 2) to be built at NAIA in the statement formalizing the Super Consortium's creation... ...

http://business.inquirer.net/242863/nai ... ly-created

Quote:
"Seven of the country’s biggest conglomerates formally agreed to create a super-consortium to rehabilitate, operate, and maintain the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) through an unsolicited proposal to be submited to the Department of Transportation.

Given proper upgrades and strategic improvements, the super-consortium said NAIA could easily accommodate an additional 11 million passengers annually from the current 39.5 million passengers, and likewise increase its hourly aircraft movements (landing and take-off) from 40 movements per hour to 48 movements per hour.

'The consortium believes that the NAIA will continue to be a strategic gateway for our country and a key hub of airline operations for many more years. The consortium will work with foreign technical partners with proven world class track records and experiences in airport operations to improve, upgrade, and enhance the operational efficiencies of NAIA covering both landside and airside facilities,' the disclosure said.

'The unsolicited proposal is intended to help accelerate the government’s ‘build build build’ program. Augmenting NAIA’s capacity is the quickest way to address airport congestion while other airports are being developed outside Metro Manila. The consortium believes that this approach promotes greater economic benefit and sustainability for the whole country,' JG said.

In a separate disclosure, Ayala Corp. said the terms of the memorandum of understanding or framework of the consortium were still under negotiation."


The operative word being "rehabilitate"...one wonders where all the new aircraft local carriers have ordered will dock or park when those are delivered. There's no guarantee that the Government will approve the consortium's proposal once it is submitted. The traveling public's welfare is held hostage by the conflicting interests of the rich and powerful.

It would be great to open a chicago-manila route.but it should only be chicago next year.they open more and more american routes without upgrading the existing ones.how hillarious.i hope they will stay with the boeing on the toronto route.so that auckland can get an upgrade to a350 or a330.noone wants to fly that shabby a340.auckland will definetly decrease in paxload the longer they fly the a340 to this route.i thought they will outphase their a340s?

SleeplessInZh wrote:

i thought they will outphase their a340s?

They will - by next year.

So opening a san diego route or seattle seems for them top priority,rather than upgrading their auckland route?so passengers may still have to suffer their A340s ,book flights with other asian cariers and they then wonder why paxload is decreasing?where is here the logic,something bautista realy have to learn...

So opening a san diego route or seattle seems for them top priority,rather than upgrading their auckland route?so passengers may still have to suffer their A340s ,book flights with other asian cariers and they then wonder why paxload is decreasing?where is here the logic,something bautista realy has to learn...

Sorry double post.tried to edit

SleeplessInZh wrote:

So opening a san diego route or seattle seems for them top priority,rather than upgrading their auckland route?so passengers may still have to suffer their A340s ,book flights with other asian cariers and they then wonder why paxload is decreasing?where is here the logic,something bautista realy has to learn...

well, speaking as one of those 'san diegans' who might benefit from a new direct flight to mnl on pal I say the logic of mr bautista is to serve as many cities as possible even if some existing cities have to suffer and wait a while for an equipment upgrade.some people might even say any service to a particular destination is better than none of course that's only my opinion

bb

Will all their A321neos have ife in both classes,or only in their 6 A321neos ulr?the normal 321neos will be used on interasia routes right?thank you for the info.and a happy new year!

Entirely ancedotol, but In 2014, Filipinos made up 52% of Alaska’s Asian and Pacific Islander population. Or about 25,000 Filipinos in a state with a total population of 775,000.

Presently many of these individuals fly from Anchorage all the way to LAX to get cheap fares, often times with long layovers and transit stops in Seoul and Taipei etc.

A direct flight from Seattle even with slightly more premium prices would be attractive to consumers vs the alternative.

Wonder if it would be beneficial for PAL and Alaska Air to even team up and become codeshare partners.

Just departed out of Terminal 3 at MNL and noticed that DL is using a 763 to NRT. This has probably been in effect for awhile, but such a huge capacity drop from years of 744 service. I remember the good ol’ days when NW ran two 747s to MNL daily

IIRC, there was a time when there were 3 NW 747's staying overnight in MNL. One from/to NRT, KIX, and Nagoya.

Since it's already 2018, is there going to be a new thread started?

Happy New Year! May it be a great year for Philippine aviation!

Philippine Aviation Thread 2018 is now open for discussion, please continue to add your comments there

Link to thread

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1382523