PAL Orders A350

17 February 2016

Up to 12 A350's coming!
Told you so.... 

Lucio Tan, left, chairman of Philippines Airlines, signed a purchase agreement with Fabrice Bregier, Airbus president and chief executive, on Feb. 17 at the Singapore Airshow, Asia's largest.                                                                    .© Reuters

Singapore - Philippine Airlines (PAL) has signed a Memorandum Of Understanding with Airbus Industrie to acquire six A350-900 aircraft at the Singapore Air Show, with options for another six aircraft, in a deal valued at $1.8 billion at list price. (see our scoop here)

The Airbus A350-900 has a list price of $308.1 million based on 2016 data released by the aircraft manufacturer last month.

PAL President and Chief Operating Officer Jaime J. Bautista said the first A350 is scheduled to be delivered to the airline by December of 2018, while two others will follow in January and March of 2019, respectively. It is tentatively set to fly London on its inaugural.

The ordered aircraft will enable the carrier to operate non-stop flight services on the 8,000 nautical mile New York – Manila route all year round with a full passenger load according to Airbus.

The airline is the second Airbus operator of the latest A350-900ULR jetliner, which will have a range of up to 8,700 nautical miles for a flight time of up to 19 hours, announced by the manufacturer in October last year.

“The A350’s range capability has been an important factor in our decision, enabling us to offer non-stop service on all our premium long haul routes.” according to Mr. Bautista.

“I believed the Airbus aircraft will help it operate long-haul services efficiently, and is a jet that is “viable” for the airline “technically and commercially”, says Mr. Bautista on the Airbus choice.

“After a thorough commercial and technical evaluation, the A350 came out on top in meeting our demanding requirements,” adds Bautista.

The A350 jets will be powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines for long haul operations in Europe and North America and shall have 300 seats in a three-class configuration, namely business, premium economy, and economy class sections.

The A350-900ULR incorporates a number of necessary changes over the standard 268 tonnes A350-900 and the 275 tonnes A350-900LR. These include a higher capacity fuel system within the existing fuel tanks, increasing fuel carrying capacity from 141,000 litres to 165,000 litres.

The A350-900ULR has an MTOW of 280 tonnes and incorporates a higher capacity fuel system within the existing fuel tanks than existing variant of the A350-900, increasing fuel carrying capacity from 141,000 litres to 165,000 litres.

Delivery of the first A350-900ULR aircraft variant is scheduled to take place in March 2018.