Philippine Airlines

Philippine Airlines, Inc. (abbreviated as PAL and also known historically as Philippine Air Lines) operating as Philippine Airlines, is a flag carrier of the Philippines. Headquartered at the Philippine National Bank Financial Center in Pasay City,[2][3] the airline was founded in 1941 and is the first and oldest commercial airline in Asia operating under its original name.[4] Out of its hubs at Ninoy Aquino International Airport of Manila and Mactan-Cebu International Airport of Cebu City, Philippine Airlines serves twenty destinations in the Philippines and 26 destinations in Southeast Asia, South Asia, East Asia, Oceania and North America.[5]
Formerly one of the largest Asian airlines, PAL was severely affected by the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. In one of the Philippines' biggest corporate failures, PAL was forced to downsize its international operations by completely cutting flights to Europe and Middle East, cutting virtually all domestic flights except routes operated from Manila, reducing the size of its fleet, and laying off thousands of employees. The airline was placed under receivership in 1998, and gradually restored operations to many destinations. PAL exited receivership in 2007.

Philippine Aerial Taxi Company
On November 14, 1935 Philippine Congress approved the franchise of Philippine Aerial Taxi Company, Incorporated (PATCO) to provide mail, cargo and passenger service particularly in the island of Luzon. The company then had scheduled Manila-Baguio and Manila-Paracale flights.[6] The company became dormant for six years on its scheduled passenger operation under its assigned routes.[4]

Philippine Air Lines
On February 26, 1941 Philippine Air Lines, Inc. by a group of businessmen led by Andres Soriano - hailed as one of the Philippines' leading industrialists at the time,[7] who served as general manager, and former Senator Ramon Fernandez, who served as chairman and president. Philippine Air Lines, Inc. acquired the franchise of Philippine Aerial Taxi Company, Incorporated, thus the birth of Philippine Airlines.
The airline’s first flight took place on March 15, 1941 with a single Beech craft Model 18 NPC-54 on daily services between Manila (from Nielson Field) and Baguio.[7] On July 22 the airline acquired the franchise of the Philippine Aerial Taxi Company. Government investment in September paved the way for its nationalization.

Entry of San Miguel Corporation (2012-present)
On April 4, 2012, San Miguel Corporation bought a 49-percent stake in Philippine Airlines for $500 million as part of a strategy to move away from its beer and food businesses. San Miguel, one of the Philippines' biggest conglomerates, said it planned to help modernise PAL's aging fleet and rejuvenate Asia's oldest commercial airline, which has lost its status as the nation's top carrier in recent years. San Miguel president Ramon Ang said the $500-million investment had bought his company a 49-percent stake in PAL and its low-cost offshoot, Airphil Express (AirPhil). "The new investment will allow the two airlines to strengthen operations and stay competitive with the implementation of PAL and AirPhil's fleet modernization," said a joint statement from PAL chairman Lucio Tan and San Miguel. Ang also stated that they are planning to join a global airline alliance. Billionaire Tan, the country's second-wealthiest man, is PAL's controlling shareholder.[34]

DestinationsPhilippine Airlines operates two hubs in Manila and Cebu. Virtually all PAL routes are operated from its hubs, with the majority of routes operating from Manila. Domestically, PAL flies to major Philippine cities from Manila and Cebu. It flies between Manila, and Cebu to a lesser extent, and cities in Asia-Pacific, the western United States, Canada and Australia. Many destinations served by PAL, especially destinations in the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong, are areas with large overseas Filipino populations.[citation needed]
PAL currently operates three non-hub routes, Bangkok-Delhi, Singapore-Jakarta and Sydney-Melbourne. In the past, PAL operated a number of domestic and international non-hub routes (most notably Iloilo-General Santos, Vancouver-New York, Vancouver-Las Vegas and Zürich-Paris), as well as non-stop services to destinations in Europe and extensive domestic operations; those services were discontinued in light of the Asian financial crisis. Some of its previous domestic operations, namely, service from Manila to Naga, Tuguegarao, and more recently, Ozamiz have been taken over by Airphil Express, while services to others were stopped altogether. In addition, services to Legazpi City, Puerto Princesa, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Cotabato City, Dipolog, Zamboanga City, Dumaguete and Tacloban, while retaining the "PR" flight codes, have been operated by Airphil Express on behalf of PAL since 28 October 2012. Service to the Middle East continued after the Asian financial crisis; however, that was also eventually discontinued due to high fuel prices and an oversupply of seats, as well as intense competition from Middle Eastern carriers. PAL discontinued service toRiyadh, its last Middle Eastern destination, on 2 March 2006, and re-introduced flights again in 2010 but discontinued once again in April 2011. PAL maintains code-share agreements with carriers based in that region, specifically with Emirates to Dubai, Etihad to Abu Dhabi, Gulf Air to Bahrain, and Qatar Airways to Doha.[50]
After exiting from receivership, PAL has expressed interest in increasing its frequencies to Canada such as an expansion to Toronto and Montreal, introducing flights to Dhaka, Guangzhou and Mumbai, and expanding its presence in the United States by commencing service to Saipan, Seattle, Dallas, San Diego, and Houston, as well as restoring service to Chicago and New York,[51] and restoring service to India and Europe,[52][53] as well as the Middle East.[54] The downgrading of the Philippines' aviation status by the Federal Aviation Administration however, has prevented PAL from expanding its coverage in the United States. PAL commenced Manila to Toronto service effective November 30, 2012 with a stop-over in Vancouver(YVR) on the Toronto-to-Manila leg.
On 15 October 2010, Philippine Airlines announced that its Manila–Brisbane services will be suspended indefinitely as of October 31, with Melbourne-bound services reduced from 5 flights a week to 3. The company cited marketing considerations for the suspension of Brisbane services.[55] However, more recently, the airline has since recommenced a daily frequency to Australia: Sydney is served four days a week and Melbourne three using a B777-300ER plane. The former triangular routing that served both Australian cities on one flight was discontinued in favour of direct flights.
The carrier re-introduced flights to New Delhi after decades of absence in the Indian subcontinent; there were initially three direct flights while three other flights stopped at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport.[56]However, as of 18 March 2012, Philippine Airlines discontinued it direct flight to New Delhi and retained the thrice-weekly New Delhi via Bangkok flights.
On 28 April 2012, Philippine Airlines re-established its direct air links between Manila and Bali, Indonesia’s prime holiday destination, via twice-weekly flights departing Manila every Wednesday and Saturday. It is the airline's second destination in Indonesia, following Jakarta, the country’s capital, where the flag carrier flies five times a week direct from Manila and four times a week via Singapore.[57]
On 23 July 2012, PAL announced that it will launch non-stop flights to Toronto on November 30, 2012.[58] The Philippines' flag carrier is also planning to launch direct flights from Manila to New York and some key cities in Europe. However, PAL is being prevented since the FAA made PH under category 2, which prevents PAL to expand its U.S. network, and blacklisting PH aviation by EU, which stops Philippine Airlines in restoring its previous European routes.[59]
Philippine Airlines (PAL) has filed with the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) permit to start flight to Moscow's Domodedovo Airport in Russia Capital starting September 2013, using the high-gross variant of Airbus A330-300 aircraft 4 times weekly. Moscow flight leaves Manila on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays, with Turkey flight leaving Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. It is the second destination in Europe to be flown by PAL after announcing flights to Turkey beginning August 5. Both destinations are outside the European Union. PAL is also slated to fly daily services on the Manila-Kuwait route by April 2013 usingAirbus A330-300, while daily flights to Darwin, extending 3 mornings a week to Brisbane and 4 mornings a week to Perth commence on 1 June 2013 using Airbus A320s.[60]
Philippine Airlines soon to launch flights to São Paulo, Brazil with stopovers on Los Angeles.[61]

A codeshare agreement, sometimes simply codeshare, is an aviation business arrangement where two or more airlines share the same flight. A seat can be purchased on one airline but is actually operated by a cooperating airline under a different flight number or code. The term "code" refers to the identifier used in flight schedule, generally the two-character IATA airline designator code and flight number. Thus, XX123, flight 123 operated by the airline XX, might also be sold by airline YY as YY456 and by ZZ as ZZ9876. It allows greater access to cities through a given airline's network without having to offer extra flights, and makes connections simpler by allowing single bookings across multiple planes. Most major airlines today have code sharing partnerships with other airlines and code sharing is a key feature of the major airline alliances.
Under a code sharing agreement, the airline that actually operates the flight (the one providing the plane, the crew and the ground handling services) is called the operating carrier. The company or companies that sell tickets for that flight but do not actually operate it are called marketing carriers.

Codeshare agreements[edit]
Philippine Airlines has codeshare agreements with the following airlines as of April 2013:[65] PAL Express (Affiliate)Cathay Pacific (Oneworld)EmiratesEtihad AirwaysGulf AirMalaysia Airlines (Oneworld)Qatar Airways (Oneworld)Vietnam Airlines (Skyteam)Korean Air (Skyteam)Asiana Airlines (Star Alliance) |

Former fleet |
Douglas DC-4
Douglas DC-6
Douglas DC-8
McDonnell Douglas DC-10
Fokker 27
Fokker 50
Hiller UH-12
Hawker Siddeley HS 748
McDonnell Douglas MD-11(Leased from World Airways)
NAMC YS-11
Noorduyn Norseman C-64
Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer II
Shorts SD360
Vickers Viscount 784
Airbus A300B4
Airbus A340-200
BAC One-Eleven Series 400
BAC One-Eleven Series 500
Beech Model 17
Beech Model 18
Boeing 707
Boeing 727-100
Boeing 737-300
Boeing 737-400
Boeing 747-200B
Convair 340
De Havilland DHC-3 Otter
Douglas DC-3

Potential Fleet
Philippine Airlines had shown interest in acquiring these aircraft:
Airbus A350
Airbus A380
Boeing 747-8
Boeing 777-9X
Boeing 787

Fleet maintenance
The entire Philippine Airlines fleet of Airbus and Boeing jets were formerly maintained in-house at the PAL Technical Center, which consists of two hangars which contain an engine overhaul shop, two engine test cells and test shops. The responsibility of maintaining the fleet, as well as all the facilities, was subsequently transferred in 2000 to Lufthansa Technik Philippines (LTP), a joint venture of Hamburg-based Lufthansa Technik AG, a leading maintenance provider in aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul, and Macro Asia Corporation, one of the Philippines' leading providers of aviation support services and catering for foreign airlines, owned by Lucio Tan, the majority owner of PAL. LTP currently maintains a four-bay hangar and workshops occupying 110,000 square meters in Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport.[84]

Mabuhay Miles
Mabuhay Miles is the Philippine Airlines frequent flyer program. It was established in 2002 by merging all existing PAL frequent flyer programs prior to the Asian financial crisis: namely, PALsmiles, the Mabuhay Club and the Flying Sportsman, with PALsmiles and Mabuhay Club members being moved to the new program on August 1, 2002.[86] The Flying Sportsman program was subsequently transformed into SportsPlus, a three-tiered, subscription-based program which gives extra baggage allocations for sports equipment.
Mabuhay Miles members earn miles that can be redeemed at face value on most Philippine Airlines-operated flights, as well as on code-shared routes of partner airlines. Some promotional fares, however, are ineligible to earn miles. Miles may also be earned by patronizing the services of Mabuhay Miles partners, or by purchasing miles. Membership tiers include Mabuhay Miles Base, Elite, Premium Elite and Million Miler.

Cabin service
Philippine Airlines currently offers two-class services on all aircraft, business (called Mabuhay Class) and economy (called Fiesta Class).
During the second half of 2006, PAL announced a cabin reconfiguration project for its Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A340-300 aircraft. The airline spent US$85.7 million to remove all first class seats and increase the size of its business and economy seats, leading to the aforementioned new seats; as well as add personal screens with AVOD across both cabin classes. The cabin reconfiguration project began in the third quarter of 2008. The first 747-400 to be reconfigured (reg. RP-C7471) re-entered service in October 2008. The second reconfigured plane (reg. RP-C7475) was completed in May 2009, and the third (reg. RP-C7472) was completed July 2009. The fourth 747 began reconfigured work in August 2009. On the other hand, reconfiguration of the Airbus A340s had been put on hold until further notice, as no word had been given on the matter.[citation needed]

Mabuhay Class (Business class)
Mabuhay Class seats, available on all aircraft, offer increased legroom, and personal screens (A320-200s with registration numbers RP-C3221 and RP-C3223 do not feature personal screens and instead have drop-down LCD screens). Currently, Philippine Airlines is the only Philippine carrier to offer business class on domestic flights.
Newly refurbished Boeing 747-400s, except for RP-C8168, and the Boeing 777-300ERs feature angled lie-flat seats manufactured by Recaro. The 747-400s, which have varying configurations, offer 42, 44, or 56 such seats, while the 777-300ER offers 42. Arranged in 2-2 or 2-3-2 configurations, seats have a pitch of at least 60 inches. Seats are upholstered in blue with silver-copper accents and feature 15-inch (38 cm) personal screens with AVOD (bulkhead and exit row seats feature 10.6-inch (27 cm) personal screens), as well as in-seat power. The 777-300ER seats feature a USB port where passengers can plug in their flash drives to listen to music from their personal collection on the aircraft's IFE system. Amenity kits with toothpaste, hairbrush, knitted socks, eye mask and toiletries from Clarins are provided on long-haul flights, regardless of aircraft.[92]
On other wide-body aircraft such as the A340-300, the older First Class cabin with seat pitch of 82-inch (210 cm) is sold as Mabuhay Class, alongside other recliner seats with seat pitch of 50-inch (130 cm). While there are personal screens, AVOD is not offered..
Mabuhay Class seats on recently delivered narrow-body aircraft recline, and have a seat pitch of 39 inches (99 cm). The cabins also feature AVOD,[93] and laptop power supply.

Fiesta Class (Economy class)
An economy breakfast onboard Philippine Airlines flight MNL-HKG
Fiesta Class seats are also available on all aircraft. Footrests and tray tables are found in the seat in front, except for bulkhead and exit seats, where the tray tables are embedded in the seats and footrests are on the floor. A319-100s and A320-200s have drop down overhead LCD screens.[93] All aircraft in the mainline fleet feature audio entertainment to Fiesta Class passengers.
Newly refurbished Boeing 747-400s and the Boeing 777-300ERs feature a new economy class seat also manufactured by Recaro and Weber, respectively. Their seats offer a pitch of between 32 and 34 inches. The new economy class offers AVOD and each seat is equipped with 9-inch (230 mm) monitors, mounted either on the seatbacks or armrests (for bulkhead and exit row seats). Similar to the Mabuhay Class seats, Fiesta seats onboard the 777-300ER also feature a USB port that allows passengers to charge portable devices.

In-Flight Enhancement
Philippine Airlines recently introduced the iPad on-Demand on the trans-Pacific flights. Passengers can enjoy in-flight entertainment options such as movies, TV shows, music, games, and even magazines and newspapers.[94]
Philippine Airlines is the first carrier in the Philippines to offer Wi-Fi on board, which began on April 1, 2013. It is named as Philippine Airlines In Air. Passengers are able to make calls, send and receive text messages, tweets, email and surf the Internet while flying.[95]

Econolight
In late 2008, Philippine Airlines introduced Econolight, which is its no-frills economy class product. Passengers can travel on domestic and selected regional routes. While the seat used is the same as PAL's full-service Fiesta Class, at the time of launch, food and headsets were not provided and they had to sit at the back of the aircraft. No physical barriers (i.e. walls or curtains) separate Econolight passengers from full-service Economy class passengers; instead, Econolight passengers were identified with a sticker attached to their seat. However, in November 2009, Econolight was enhanced to provide meals and passengers may already choose their seats at check-in. The inclusion of meals and seat assignments came at the expense of raising the base fares to almost double what it was when it launched. Other restrictions such as the lack of check-through facilities and lounge access for high-tier Mabuhay Miles members still remain though.

Incidents and accidents
Although Philippine Airlines aircraft have been involved in a string of accidents since its founding in 1941, the majority of airline accidents have occurred with propeller aircraft during the early years of operations. Few PAL jet aircraft have been involved in accidents, the most notable being the explosion onboard Philippine Airlines Flight 434, masterminded by al-Qaeda and precursor to the ill-fated Project Bojinka.
Despite this, PAL is known for being the only airline in the Philippines to be accredited by the International Air Transport Association with passing the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA), having been accredited in February 2007.

Ramon S. Ang
President & Chief Operating Officer

Members:
Aurora T. Calderon
Ferdinand K. Constantino
Estelito P. Mendoza
Roberto V. Ongpin
Washington SyCip
Harry C. Tan
Lucio K. Tan, Jr.
Michael G. Tan
Inigo Zobel
Antonino L. Alindogan, Jr. (Independent Director)
Enrique Cheng (Independent Director)
Alberto D. Lina (Independent Director)
Gregorio T. Yu (Independent Director)

PAL Express (short for Philippine Airlines Express), formerly Air Philippines, is the low-cost regional airline brand of sister airline Philippine Airlines. After operating as PAL Express for a while, the airline transformed again the brand into Airphil Express. However, in March 2013, the company's CEO announced its re-branding into PAL Express. As a brand of Philippine Airlines, PAL Express will be operating as a full service carrier with low-cost management.[1]

History
On 10 April 2008, Philippine Airlines announced the order for aircraft that will form the PAL Express fleet. It will consist of aircraft from the Bombardier Qfamily, three from the Q300 series and six from the Q400 series, presently manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace and currently valued at $150 million.[2]PAL announced on April 13 that the new fleet will be based mainly in Cebu City to serve regional routes, while flights from Manila will also be launched.[3]
PAL Express was formally unveiled on 14 April 2008. PAL Express will primarily fly intra-regional routes in the Visayas and Mindanao from its Cebu hub, as well as secondary routes to smaller airports in island provinces that are not able to accommodate PAL’s regular jet aircraft. Service will ramp up dramatically on 19 May when Cebu hub operations commence with flights between Cebu City and five points in the Visayas and Mindanao.[4]
On 5 May 2008, PAL Express began operations by launching flights to Malay.[5] The airline on the same day announced it will serve 22 inter-island routes, including some provincial points currently without air service.[6] Flights out of Cebu City commenced on 19 May.
On 1 July 2009, PAL Express flights began earning Mabuhay Miles. Since 27 October 2009, all PAL Express flights were being operated by Air Philippines. On 28 March 2010, PAL Express ceased operations and transferred all operations to sister airline, Airphil Express.
On March 15, 2013, Airphil Express re-branded itself as PAL Express using the familiar “sunriser” PAL livery and logo on its tail and fuselage.[1

Incidents and Accidents[edit]
On August 11, 2008, a PAL Express Bombardier DHC-8 Q400 aircraft operating as flight PR29 with 75 passengers and 3 crew, had safely landed on runway 04 at Catarman Airport when the airplane's nosewheel struck a soft spot in the runway's surface during taxi, the airline reported. No injuries were reported.[8]
On November 15, 2008, Another Bombardier DHC-8 Q400, with flight number PR272, made an emergency landing at its destination, Davao International Airport, from Zamboanga International Airport due to a problem with the plane's left landing gear. No one onboard got injured and the aircraft landed safely.