BANGKOK, 23 June 2023: Philippine Airlines (PAL) has finalised a purchase agreement with Airbus for nine A350-1000 long-range aircraft.
The agreement was signed during the Paris Air Show by Philippine Airlines president and chief operating officer Captain Stanley K Ng, and Airbus chief commercial officer and Head of International Christian Scherer.
The A350-1000s will fly nonstop services from Manila to North America, including the US and Canada East Coast. The new aircraft will join two A350-900s already in service. The aircraft will accommodate 380 passengers in a three-class layout, with separate cabins for business, premium economy and economy classes.
Captain Stanley K Ng said: “This order will see PAL operating one of Asia’s youngest and most modern widebody fleets. We selected the A350-1000 to give PAL the power to match capacity closely to predicted demand on both the very longest routes to the North American East Coast and our prime trunk routes to the West Coast and potentially to Europe. At the same time, the aircraft will use significantly less fuel than older aircraft of a similar size, which also brings an important reduction in carbon emissions.”
The A350 claims the longest range capability of any commercial airliner in production today and can fly 9,700 nautical miles or 18,000 kilometres nonstop.
At the end of May 2023, the A350 Family had won 967 firm orders from 54 customers worldwide, with 535 aircraft currently in the fleets of 40 operators, flying primarily on long-haul routes.
Philippine Airlines operates various Airbus types on its full-service network. In addition to the A350 on long-haul intercontinental routes, PAL flies A330-300s on services to the Middle East, Australia and various points in Asia. The Philippine flag carrier also operates a fleet of A320 and A321 single-aisle aircraft on its extensive domestic and regional network out of hubs in Manila and Cebu.
