WATCH: Philippine Airlines President, COO Stanley Ng on Manila-Seattle direct flight
SEATTLE, USA – The Philippine Airlines (PAL) now flies directly from Manila to Seattle and vice versa, making the airline company the only Southeast Asian carrier, besides Singapore Airlines, to have a direct flight to Seattle.
“We're the biggest carrier actually that operates direct flights from the US North America to the Philippines,” claimed PAL Vice President for Sales Salvador Britanico Jr. in an interview with Philstar.com and other press in Westin, Seattle.
Captain Stanley Ng, PAL President and Chief Operating Officer, told Philstar.com and other media outlets in a separate group interview in Westin that before deciding a route to Seattle, they studied opening routes in Chicago and Las Vegas, where there is large Filipino concentration.
“But now, it’s more than just stats (statistics) targeting the Filipino community,” he said, “But also, introducing the Philippines to the rest of the world… Parang the mainstream, taga-rito, we want them to go to the Philippines for the tourist attractions. There’s so much to share, ‘di ba – culture, arts, beaches, of course! Marami ‘yan! There’s so much to see for them!”
According to him, so far, the reception to the new route has been well-received.
“That’s really important, creating that access and for people to go there conveniently. In fact, we met with the Filipino community the other day, everyone was so happy about it. And before, it will take them about 20 hours to get to the Philippines. Now it's 14 hours and they're there. And of course, the convenience of like the risk of losing your baggage, the transit and all those things that is really making it more seamless and the hustle of a transit is still different now, so that will really stimulate the growth," he noted.
“And of course, there's so much businesses here. The headquarters are here – Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks, and even Boeing and Nordstrom, and so there's so much more to see.” – Photo, video by Deni Rose M. Afinidad-Bernardol; video editing by Martin Ramos
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Editor's note: The tour to Seattle was hosted by Philippine Airlines to promote tourism in the area. At no stage does the host organization have a say on the stories generated from the coverage, interviews conducted, publication date and story treatment. Content is produced solely by Philstar.com following editorial guidelines.
