Product Compatibility Issues Cited For Woes
30 November 2016
30 November 2016
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| Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) and Etihad Airways (ETD) is heading in opposite direction starting summer of next year if both company fails to salvage its strategic partnership agreement that should have marked a new era of cooperation between the two flag carriers. The culprit of the airline's trouble appears to be wrong product choices of PAL which add to its woes when passengers started shying away from the airline and opted instead to fly ETD because of better product offers, most notable of which is the absence of In-flight Entertainment (IFE) System to its operating aircraft. ETD offers this product to all passengers regardless of fare classes. The agreement which supposedly covers code-share flights, loyalty programs, airport lounges, joint sales and marketing programs, a Philippines domestic air pass, cargo, and the coordination of airport operations to provide a better guest experience at their Abu Dhabi and Manila hubs now appears in limbo as PAL failed to match ETD services. PAL President and Chief Operating Officer Jaime J. Bautista said they will be converting some of the Airbus A330-300's that are used for the middle east flight but until now no product is introduced to the said route citing poor yield despite being given 5th freedom traffic rights from Abu Dhabi to any points in Saudi Arabia. The Philippine carrier was expected to harmonize products offering with Etihad which it did in the early part of the agreement by fielding a bi-class A330-300 to the route but that strategy failed because of absence of IFE services which Abu Dhabi bound passengers desired. Etihad Airways’ President and Chief Executive Officer James Hogan is trying to salvage the agreement with Philippine Airlines as it expires in six (6) month's time. The commercial agreement was signed in Abu Dhabi on 28 April 2014. |
PR really needs to step up its products... seriously, even their business class on the newest triple 7 is dismal. I would love to take PR to go to MNL for business from NY but their C/J Class simply do not come close to any other airline flying into the country.
ReplyDeleteAside from product and lack of IFE.I read from CAPA tht EY was tkaeing advantage of PR domestic network and EY hasn't done any major expansion in the philippines while EK has already a service between DXB-CEB-CKK While QR has service from DOH-CKK one of the agreements between the codeshare of PR and EY is no other codeshare agreement between other Major Mid East Airline such as EK and QR hence why PR is re-considering thier agreement with EY.
DeleteSorry but it seems that I accidentlly mispelled the word taking and didin't see it until the comment was publish so take note of that !
DeleteEY cannot expand MNL anymore because of the bilaterals and they have no plans of heading to Cebu or Clark at this time. PR on the other hand cannot benefit on a code-share deals with EY without flying their plane, a deal they used to enjoy enormously before with EK,EY,& QR, because 5J will certainly object to that. Allegations of taking advantage of PR domestic network is fallacy as there is no domestic network in the UAE. In fact PR offered it themselves. So why shot themselves in the foot? Our take on this matter is that EY wanted to operate all schedules at the pleasure of PR but 5J won't take this sitting down. After all they want to fly Abu Dhabi too but can't because it was awarded to PAL. Remember also PR ceased to have cooperative agreements with EK due to protest by 5J. The argument was if PAL wont fly we can. Historically, PR is contented at the erstwhile agreements with EK et.al, as they benefited from that without flying any metal. Ultimately though, Its the passengers that decide which plane to fly, and the comfort of the IFE is simply irresistible not to be had.
DeleteSo this was the reason why for a brief time a tri-class A330 was being deployed to AUH, to be at par with EY offering business class and IFE (iPads in the case of PR). But it later downgraded to monoclass A330 with the launch of AUH-DOH soon after, so that it can be standardized with DXB-JED, DXB-KWI, RUH and DMM which all use monoclass A330s. And I don't think the 8 reconfigured monoclass A330s starting next year will be intended for middle east flights, rather it will be intended for Japan, Korea, Australia and Hawaii, with the triclass A330s to be transferred to all middle eastern flights, because these are in high-density configuration, competing with 5J. If PR will deploy the reconfigured A330 with less dense layout to AUH just for the sake of the agreement with EY, it will be forced to do so as well to other middle eastern routes, and they won't make money due to the competition with EK, QR and SV, which all use 777s to MNL and are no doubt subsidized by their governments. From the start, the reason why SMC decided for monoclass and triclass high-density A330s was because they want to compete with 5J, as well as compete with the middle-eastern carriers by lower pricing, at the cost of no IFE and cramped seating.
ReplyDeleteI heard that there are rumors that PR is planning to change its service to the middle east with 2P is this true or not ?
ReplyDeleteA little late with that, 2P used to fly the monoclass A330's before being transferred to PR
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