PAL to fly 777 morning flights to West Coast

PAL targets Northwest breakfast

Victor C. Agustin
Manila Times

Manila - After decades of conceding the morning market, the Philippine Airlines is now keen to take a bite of the long-uncontested territory of Northwest Airlines.

No less than PAL president Jaime Bautista has confirmed the flag carrier’s plan to launch a new daily non-stop service to the US West Coast that leaves Manila in the morning, just like the two Northwest flights.

The morning flight is expected to be launched by the fourth quarter, when PAL shall have taken delivery of the first of the two Boeing 777s, Bautista said.

But the new service, to complement the two evening flights to the West Coast that PAL now currently operates, would still have to depend on the US Federal Aviation Administration’s returning the Philippine civil aviation system to the so-called Category 1 status.

“We may be unable to use these new planes on our flights to the United States, and the cost advantage offered by the aircraft may only be realized by implementing our alternative plan for the deployment of the aircraft,” Bautista told PAL shareholders in late September.