By Azer N. Parrocha
MANILA, March 16 (PNA) — After almost two decades of absence, flag-carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) has started flying to New York again after stopping its flight to the route for nearly two decades.
This came after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted the Philippines’ aviation status to Category 1 in April last year.
PAL Chairman Lucio Tan on Sunday led the inaugural flight, of which a 70-member delegation of government and airline officials attended.
These flights would be PAL’s 36th international destination. Aside from New York, PAL has four other US destinations namely Guam, Honolulu, Los Angeles, and San Francisco,
PAL said that the four-times-a-week service to the Manila-Vancouver-New York route will operate at Terminal 1 of New York’s JFK International Airport.
PAL will have full traffic rights between Vancouver and New York.
Flight PR 126 will depart Manila every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 11:50 pm, meanwhile arrival in Vancouver is 8:50 p.m. on the same day.
After a two-hour transit stop, the service continues on to New York at 10:50 p.m., touching down at Terminal 1 of JFK International at 7:00 a.m. the following day.
The return service, PR 127, will depart New York at 11:00 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, and arrive in Vancouver at 1:50 p.m..
It will depart the Canadian city at 3:20 p.m. and land back in Manila at 8:35 p.m. the following day.
PAL will utilize the Airbus A340-300 jets, which seats 36 passengers in business class and 218 in economy.
Introductory round-trip fares are available for as low as USD 610 (exclusive of taxes and surcharges) for economy and as low as USD 3,560 for business class.
The flight to New York – distance of 14,501 kilometers or approximately 16.5 total flying hours – will be PAL’s longest route. (PNA)