PAL increasing flights to China

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Airlines (PAL) is ramping up operations in China by increasing flight frequencies and opening new destinations in line with a national campaign which seeks to bring in two million Chinese tourists per year.

The flag carrier said in a statement it would increase flights between the Philippines and China to 103 times per week starting March 25, from 99 times per week at present.

It said the increase is due to the shift to daily Manila to Jinjiang and Manila to Guangzhou (Canton) services from the current five times weekly on each route.

The daily Manila to Jinjiang service  or flight PR356 leaves Manila at 11 a.m. and arrives in Jinjiang at 1:40 p.m.

Flight PR357 departs Jinjiang at 2:30 p.m. and touches down in Manila at 4:40 p.m.

Meanwhile, the daily Manila to Guangzhou service or flight PR382 departs Manila at 2:30 a.m. and arrives in Guangzhou at 5 a.m.

Flight PR383 leaves Guangzhou at 6:30 a.m. and arrives in Manila at 8:30 a.m.

PAL said its flights to various Chinese destinations contributed to the 43.33 percent increase in tourist arrivals from mainland China which reached 968,447 last year.

Combined with Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, total tourists from the Greater China region reached 1.33 million.

“These numbers are expected to continue surging in 2018 as PAL further expands flights in the coming months from new Chinese cities: the industrial mega-city of Tianjin in northern China, the commercial trading center of Shenzhen in the Pearl River Delta, and the southern city of Nanning that hosts the annual China-ASEAN Expo,” PAL said.

PAL plans to have direct air links to Palawan (Puerto Princesa) from both Tianjin and Shenzhen, and to Boracay (via Kalibo) from both Shenzhen and Nanning this year.

At present, PAL’s other routes to Greater China include: Manila to Beijing (six weekly), Manila to Hong Kong (35 weekly), Manila to Macau (five weekly), Manila to Shanghai Pudong (seven weekly), Manila to Xiamen (seven weekly), Cebu to Beijing (once weekly), Kalibo to Beijing (thrice weekly), Kalibo to Chengdu (four times weekly), Kalibo to Nanjing (thrice weekly), Kalibo to Shanghai Pudong (thrice weekly) and Kalibo to Hangzhou (thrice weekly).