News
PAL mulls regional aircraft order as Cebu Airport gets busy
April 1st 2016
Philippine Airlines (PAL) this week said it continues studying a suitable replacement aircraft for its fleet of nine Bombardier Dash 8-300s, which are on average twelve years old, making them the second oldest type in its fleet after the A340-300. Read More » PAL said it is evaluating turboprops from Bombardier and ATR, as well as regional jets produced by Embraer (E175/E195) and Bombardier (CS100/CS300). PAL met with each manufacturer at the recent Singapore Airshow. A decision is expected by year-end.
In February, PAL ordered six A350-900s (plus six options) from Airbus for delivery from 2018, to replace the A340s. Airbus last week revealed to Orient Aviation that PAL’s A350’s will have their maximum take-off weight extended to 278 tonnes, allowing for full payload services from Manila to the U.S. East Coast.
PAL’s fiercest local competitor, Cebu Pacific Air, ordered 16 ATR72-600s last June to expand its domestic inter-island operations. Regionally, Cebu Pacific will stick to the A320 until at least 2021. "I can only speak for ourselves, but as a low-cost carrier, we value commonality," said Lance Gokongwei, CEO of Cebu Pacific. "We're not about to change. Our forthcoming order is for 30 A320neos. We're pretty much set until 2021."
In other Filipino aviation updates, March marked an important milestone for Mactan-Cebu International Airport as PAL launched a thrice-weekly B777 service to Los Angeles, and EVA Airways launched a daily A321 service to Taipei. On Sunday, Xiamen Airlines followed with a thrice-weekly B737 rotation to Xiamen, and this Wednesday, Emirates Airline started a daily Dubai-Cebu B777 flight.
Cebu Airport’s general manager, Nigel Paul Villarete, said attracting new carriers to the island has become “crucial” as work has started on Terminal 2, which will increase capacity from the current 4.5 million to 12.5 million passengers upon completion in 2018. Villarete said he spoke with close to 30 airlines and ten airports during the recent Routes Asia Strategy Summit 2016 in Manila.
Back in Manila, PAL this week launched a new five-weekly A330-300 nonstop route to Doha, and Taiwanese LCC V Air started a four-weekly A320/A321 service to Taipei.
