PAL suspends 35 PAL Express domestic flights

MANILA, Philippines - National flag carrier Philippine Airlines Inc. (PAL) is indefinitely suspending 35 inter-island domestic flights of wholly-owned subsidiary PAL Express starting next month.

In a notice to passenger, PAL said it is suspending 14 domestic flights of its budget airline arm starting March 1 and 21 more domestic flights starting March 16 as part of a restructuring program.

“Please be informed starting March 1, your airline will implement domestic flight schedule changes as part of an overall strategy to further improve fleet performance,” PAL stated in the notice.

Flights of PAL Express that would be suspended starting March include 2P 230 Cebu-Bacolod; 2P 231 Bacolod-Cebu; 2P 380 Cebu-Iloilo; 2P 381 Iloilo-Cebu; 2P 982 General Santos-Iloilo; 2P 981 Iloilo-General Santos; 2P 297 Cebu-Ozamiz; 2P 298 Ozamiz-Cebu; 2P  303 Cebu-Puerto Princesa; 2P 304 Puerto Princesa-Cebu; 2P 236 Cebu-Tacloban; 2P 237 Tacloban-Cebu; 2P 363 Cebu-Davao; and 2P 364 Davao-Cebu.

On the other hand, the flights to be suspended starting March 16 include 2P 362 Butuan-Cebu; 2P 361 Cebu-Butuan; 2P 287 Cebu-Cagayan; 2P 297 Cebu-Cagayan; 2P 288 Cagayan-Cebu; 2P 296 Cagayan-Cebu; 2P 365 Cebu-Davao; 2P 366 Davao-Cebu; 2P 395 Cagayan-Davao; 2P 396 Davao-Cagayan; 2P 384 Cebu-Iloilo; 2P 385 Iloilo-Cebu; 2P 279 Cebu-Caticlan; 2P 278 Catican-Cebu; 2P 241 Cebu-Zamboanga; 2P 242 Zamboanga-Cebu; 2P 273 Davao-Zamboanga; 2P 272 Zamboanga-Davao; 2P 246 Jolo-Zamboanga; 2P 244 Tawi-Tawi-Zamboanga; and 2P 243 Zamboanga-Tawi-Tawi.

The airline said passengers affected could be re-accommodated in other flights.

“Customers on these flights will be booked and re-accommodated on alternative flights,” PAL said in the notice.

PAL streamlined its operations in August last year by focusing on international routes and transferring almost all its domestic flights to its wholly-owned subsidiary PAL Express.

PAL expanded its code sharing agreement with PAL Express to allow it to continue to expand its network and optimize its existing fleet and resources while giving customers more choices in terms of destinations, flights, and schedules.