PAL cultivates PHL-Australia ties

MANILA, Philippines - Direct air link between the Philippines and Australia, pioneered and developed by Philippine Airlines (PAL) for the last 46 years, has cultivated the vibrant exchange of trade, culture and arts, technology, students and recently, human resource.

PAL can humbly claim to being a catalyst in developing progressive bilateral ties between the two countries by providing the fastest direct service from Manila to Australia.

PAL’s pioneering twice-a-week flights to Sydney in October 1965, using the four-engine DC-8, have evolved to daily service to Sydney and Melbourne using the Airbus A340.

In March last year, PAL initially deployed its ultra-modern Boeing 777-300ER to the multi-legged Australia operations.

PAL used to fly to other major Australian cities like Perth, Canberra, Darwin, Adelaide and Brisbane. The Brisbane service has been suspended since October of last year.

Arnul Pan, PAL country manager for Australia, is optimistic of the growing market in Australia.

“PAL’s Australian operations contributed more than $42M to the flag carrier’s total revenues in fiscal year 2009 to 2010. The figure is expected to increase to $60M for the last fiscal year,” said Pan.

There are more than 76,000 Filipinos who have become Australian citizens, on top of the 10,700 Filipino residents already living throughout the continent.

After recently celebrating its 70th anniversary, PAL remains confident its Australia operations will continue to remain robust amidst various challenges facing PAL.

Australia is ranked the world’s 13th largest economy with low poverty rate. It also tagged as the world’s fourth largest exporter of wine. There is a national opera company — Opera Australia — and a symphony orchestra in each state. Many of Australia’s performing arts companies receive federal funding. Each state also has a publicly funded theater company.