Philippine Airlines receives first A350-900, may convert options to A350-1000

Philippine Airlines (PAL), via its official Facebook and Twitter accounts, announced (14/15-Jul-2018) it received its first A350-900 aircraft. The airline intends to deploy the aircraft on nonstop London service and use the type to commence nonstop New York service in Oct-2018. The aircraft is configured with business class, premium economy and economy class seats. Philippine Airlines is the 19th airline to operate the A350. President and COO Jaime Bautista said: "We decided to order A350 for many reasons. One is that this aircraft will allow us to have more seats" (Manila Standard, 14-Jul-2018). He added: "This aircraft will have a longer range, meaning we will be able to fly nonstop from Manila to JFK without any penalty and will allow us to carry more cargo. That means more revenue for PAL". The carrier expects to receive its second A350 in Aug-2018, another two by the end of 2018 and the final two on order in 1Q2019. Mr Bautista stated: "We have also options for another six aircraft which we can convert into A350-1000 series". [more - original PR]