PAL restores service to Melbourne starting today

Bucking the worldwide aviation trend to contract its operations, Philippine Airlines climaxes a modest expansion binge by restoring a direct service to Melbourne today, Oct. 30.

The Australian city is the third new international destination PAL will launch flights to in as many days. Last Sunday, the flag carrier began regular services to Bangkok and Shanghai.

All three maiden flights, which deployed widebody Airbus A330-300 aircraft, took off with respectable loads – attesting to the resilience and loyalty of PAL’s core markets in the face of the global downturn in air travel.

The flight to Bangkok (PR 730) registered the highest passenger load with 302 seats occupied for an exceptional 100 percent. The flight to Shanghai (PR 336) carried a 90 percent load while today’s inaugural to Melbourne is 56 percent booked as of press time.

The new routes were planned well before the current slump hit the industry in mid-September and by moving forward with them despite the crisis, PAL said it is showing its commitment to its customers.

"Travel within Asia-Pacific is proving to be a better alternative to long-haul trips to Europe," said PAL president Avelino L. Zapanta.

"Our major markets in the region remain vibrant and generally impervious to the slowdown, and that gives us the confidence to offer these new services. Our latest major concern is the impact of the Japanese travel advisory, but we are working closely with the industry to overcome the problem.

Top PAL officials fanned out across the region to promote the new routes. Zapanta is headed to Melbourne while executive vice president Henry So Uy flew to Shanghai and vice president for sales David A. Lim visited Bangkok.

Today’s flight to Melbourne marks PAL’s return to the Victoria capital after a three-year absence and significantly expands the airline’s presence in Australia.

The new service will be an extension of the current three-times-a-week operation to Sydney, which will now be routed Manila-Melbourne-Sydney-Manila.

This allows passengers traveling between the Philippines and Australia the option of stopping off in either or both Australian cities during their journey, at no extra cost.

The service (PR 209) departs Manila every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday at 7:50 p.m., arriving in Melbourne the following day at 7:05 a.m. It continues on to Sydney at 8:25 a.m., touching down there at 9:45 a.m.

The return service to Manila, PR 210, departs Sydney the same morning (Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays) at 11:15 a.m., arriving in the Philippine capital at 4:45 p.m.

PAL will continue to deploy widebody Airbus A330-300 aircraft on its Australian routes.