TO EXPAND its network in the Oceania region, national flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) will launch flights from Manila to Cairns and Auckland from this year-end.
Starting December 1, PAL will operate four flights weekly to serve the Manila-Cairns-Auckland route. The service will run on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays utilising the Airbus A320.
Jaime J Bautista, PAL’s president and COO, said: “The route will stimulate passenger traffic along three travel streams – Manila and Cairns, Manila and Auckland, as well as Cairns and Auckland… In the long-term, the service will drive traffic between South-east Asia and New Zealand.”
The six-hour flight to Cairns – PAL’s fifth Australian destination – departs Manila at 23.45, arriving at 08.00 the next day. After a one-hour stopover, the flight will continue on to Auckland and touch down at 16.00.
Return flights from Auckland depart at 18.30 and arrive at Cairns at 23.30. The flight will continue to the Philippines after a stopover and land in Manila at 03.30 the following day.
Prior to launching flights to these two destinations, PAL began services to New York and Jinjiang in Quanzhou, China last March and April respectively.
