Philippine Airlines to Increase Flights to Los Angeles and San Francisco

Philippine Airlines is to increase flights to Los Angeles and San Francisco late next month, adding up to 1,320 seats weekly to PAL’s busy trans-Pacific routes in time for the peak Christmas travel period.

“The trans-Pacific sector is PAL’s most important long-haul market and we are infusing extra capacity as well as upgraded service and equipment into it,” said PAL president Jaime J. Bautista. “In fact, our first newly refurbished and reconfigured Boeing 747-400, featuring state-of-the-art seats, interiors and amenities, will be deployed on the trans-Pacific route as soon as it rejoins the fleet in a few days.”

PAL’s long-range fleet of Boeing 747-400s is currently undergoing reconfiguration, due for completion in the third quarter of 2009.

From October 26, 2008, PAL will add two weekly flights using 264-seater Airbus A340-300 aircraft to its daily Boeing 747-400 service to Los Angeles, raising the total frequency to nine flights weekly.

The frequency expands to 11 times weekly during the period between December 16, 2008 to January 15, 2009 – when holiday travel is at its busiest – when two more flights are operated, after which it reverts to nine weekly.

Meanwhile, PAL will supplement its daily San Francisco Boeing 747-400 service with an extra Airbus A340-300 flight every week during the peak period between December 21, 2008 to January 11, 2009, lifting total frequency on the route to eight flights weekly.

In all, PAL will deploy up to five extra A340-300 flights every week to the U.S. West Coast during the Christmas peak, on top of its regular daily services, boosting capacity by 1,320 seats weekly on its premier long-range route.

The current trans-Pacific expansion follows parallel increases in PAL services to several Australian and Asian points, including Sydney, Melbourne, Osaka, Fukuoka, Singapore and Bangkok, announced in recent weeks.

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