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Philippine Airlines

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Philippine Airlines
File:Logo pal.png
IATA ICAO Call sign
PR PAL Philippine
Founded1941
HubsNinoy Aquino International Airport
Mactan-Cebu International Airport
Frequent-flyer programMabuhay Miles (formerly PALsmiles)
Fleet size31
Destinations52
HeadquartersMakati City, Philippines
Key peopleGabriel C. Singson (Chairman Emiritus), Lucio C. Tan (Chairman and CEO)
Websitewww.philippineairlines.com

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Philippine Airlines, also known as PAL, is the national airline of the Philippines. It was the first airline in Asia and the oldest of those currently in operation. With its corporate headquarters in Makati City, Philippine Airlines flies both domestic and international flights. As of 2005, it claims to serve twenty-one domestic airports and thirty-one foreign cities. Its main hub is Ninoy Aquino International Airport in the capital city of Manila. Its principal Asian competitors are China Airlines and Japan Airlines.

History

File:Philippineairlines747.jpg
Philippine Airlines Boeing 747-400: taxiing from a gate at Narita International Airport in Tokyo, Japan.

Philippine Airlines was founded in February of 1941, making it Asia's oldest carrier still operating under its current name. The airline was started by a group of businessmen led by Andres Soriano, hailed as one of the Philippines' leading industrialists at the time. Government investment in September of the same year paved the way for its nationalization.

It started operations in March 1941 with a single Beech Model 18 aircraft making one flight daily between Manila (from Nielson Field) and Baguio. PAL services were interrupted during World War II, which lasted in the Philippines from 1942 until 1945. In February 1946, after the war, PAL resumed operations with services to 15 domestic points. Its fleet consisted of five Douglas DC-3s. In July of the same year, a chartered DC-4 ferried 40 American servicemen to California, making PAL the first Asian airline to cross the Pacific. In December of the same year, it started regular service between Manila and San Francisco.

1947 saw PAL head to Europe with the acquisition of Douglas DC-4s. In 1951, PAL leased a DC-3 named "Kinsei" to Japan Airlines, which led to the founding of Japan's first airline. Six years later, PAL starts services to Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Taipei using Convair 340s. Some nine years later, in 1962, PAL enters the jet age with the Douglas DC-8.

In 1965, PAL is once again privatized when the Philippine government relinquishes its share of PAL. Benigno Toda, Jr., the PAL board chairman from 1962, acquires a majority stake in the airline. A year later, in 1966, PAL starts services to the southern cities of Cebu, Bacolod, and Davao using the BAC1-11.

PAL would continue expansion with the arrival of its first Douglas DC-10 in July of 1974. However, three years later, the Philippine government would re-nationalize PAL with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) holding a majority of PAL shares. In 1979, the Boeing 727, the Boeing 747-200, and the Airbus A300-B4, called the "Love Bus", joined the PAL fleet. The "Love Bus" would enter service to Singapore later in the month.

In 1982, PAL would start services to Paris via Zurich. Five years later, PAL overhauls its domestic fleet with the launch of the Shorts SD360 into domestic service. A year later, the Fokker 50 joins the domestic fleet. A year after that, in 1989, the Boeing 737 joins the fleet.

PAL would once again be privatized in January of 1992, when the government would sell its share of PAL to a holding company called PR Holdings. However, a conflict as to who would lead PAL led to a compromise in 1993, when former Education Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez was elected PAL president by the airline's board of directors.

In November of 1993, PAL would acquire the Boeing 747-400. The aircraft touched down at Subic Bay International Airport and was carrying then-President Fidel Ramos, who was headed home from the United States after a state visit there.

On December 11, 1994, a small bomb exploded below the seat of a Japanese businessman on Philippine Airlines Flight 434. The businessman perished, but none of the aircraft's other 293 passengers and crew were killed. The Boeing 747-200 landed safely. Investigators later found that Ramzi Yousef, a terrorist suspected of being a part of Al-Qaida, planted the bomb there to test it out for a terrorist attack he was planning, Project Bojinka. The plan was foiled after an apartment fire in Manila led investigators to the laptop computer and disks containing the plan.

In January of 1995, Lucio C. Tan, the majority shareholder of PR Holdings, would become the new chairman and CEO of the airline. Two years later, PAL would acquire its first Airbus A340-300. In 1999, PAL would consolidate its international and domestic operations at its Manila hub with the opening of Ninoy Aquino International Airport's Terminal 2, named the "Centennial Terminal".

However, PAL suffered heavy losses in the mid- to late 1990s. Service was drastically cut during the Asian financial crisis, which lasted from 1997 until 2001. Service to Europe and many other international destinations was eliminated and PAL eliminated most of its domestic destinations as its domestic fleet was scrapped to keep PAL afloat during the crisis.

In March 22, 1998, Philippine Airlines Flight 137, an Airbus A320 crashed and overran the runway of Bacolod City's airport, plowing through homes near it. No one of the passengers and crew died, but many were injured and three on the ground were killed.

In 2000, PAL finally returned to profitability, making some 44.2 million pesos in its first year of rehabilitation, breaking some six years of heavy losses. Later that year, PAL would sell its maintenance and engineering units to Lufthansa Technik AG. The company would become responsible for the maintenance of the PAL fleet. In August of the same year, PAL opens an e-mail booking facility. The system allows passengers to book their flights and receive a reply within 24 hours.

In that same year, Philippine Airlines Flight 812, en route from Davao to Manila, was hijacked by a man with marital problems. The crisis ended near Antipolo City, wherein the hijacker escaped through a parachute, with none of the other passengers and crew being injured or killed.

In 2001, PAL continued to gain a net profit of 419 million pesos in its second year of rehabilitation. In this year alone, PAL restored services to Sydney, Busan, Taipei , Jakarta, Vancouver, Ho Chi Minh City, and Bangkok, while launching new services to Shanghai and Melbourne. A year later, PAL restored services to Tagbilaran and Guam. During 2002, the PAL website was relaunched, and its frequent flyer program, called Mabuhay Miles, was launched, combining PAL's former frequent flyer programs: PALsmiles, Mabuhay Club, and the Flying Sportsman, now renamed Sportsplus. The PAL RHUSH (Rapid Handling of Urgent Shipments) cargo program was also relaunched.

2003 saw PAL returning to Kuala Lumpur and flying to Okinawa. PAL also launched the "Online Arrival and Departure Facility", which allows passengers to view actual flight information. PAL also launches a new booking system with new features, like booking flights without having to log-in to the PAL website. In December of 2003, PAL also acquires a new Boeing 747-400, the fifth of the PAL 747 fleet.

In 2004, PAL launched services to Las Vegas to mark its 63rd year of service. PAL also returned to Laoag and started services to Macau on an agreement with Air Macau. The airline also saw a return to Europe with the return of the airline to Paris and Amsterdam on agreements with Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. The service to Paris, however, was inevitably cut. PAL also continued an overhaul of its fleet with the arrival of two new Airbus A320s and continued modernizing its ticketing systems with the launch of electronic ticketing. In March of 2005, PAL started services to Nagoya, making it PAL's fifth Japanese destination.

On November 11, 2005, PAL is set to restore scheduled flights to Beijing after a 15-year hiatus due to low revenues on the route.

File:PAL4.jpg
Philippine Airlines; Airbus A380. An artist's vision of a Philippine Airlines Airbus A380.

The name "Philippines" is located across the front part of the fuselage. The logo of blue and red triangles with the sun on the blue triangle. The logo came from the design and colors of the Philippine flag with the exception of the three yellow stars on a field of white.

Destinations

Asia

East Asia

Southwest Asia

Southeast Asia

North America

Oceania

Europe

  • Most of these destinations are served only from Manila

Fleet

Philippine Airlines operates a total fleet of thirty-one modern wide-bodied and narrow-bodied passenger aircraft.

Boeing 747-400

  • Engine : General Electric CF6-80
  • Seating capacity:
    • 398 passengers (P32/J40/Y326)
    • 433 passengers (P18/J32/Y383)
  • Number of Aircraft: 5

Boeing 737-400

  • Engine : CFMI CFM56-3
  • Seating capacity:
    • 170 passengers (one-class)
    • 168 passengers (one-class)
  • Number of Aircraft: 3

Boeing 737-300

  • Engine : CFMI CFM56-3
  • Seating capacity:
    • 114 passengers (J12/Y102)
    • 148 passengers (Y148)
  • Number of Aircraft: 4

Airbus A340-300

  • Engine : CFMI CFM56-5C4
  • Seating capacity:
    • 264 passengers (P12/J32/Y220)
  • Number of Aircraft : 4

Airbus A330-300

  • Engine : General Electric CF6-80
  • Seating capacity:
    • 302 passengers (J42/Y260)
  • Number of Aircraft : 8

Airbus A320-200

  • Engine : CFMI CFM56-5
  • Seating capacity:
    • 150 passengers (J12/Y138)
    • 156 passengers (converted one-class version of the original 150-seater)
    • 177 passengers (mono-class)
  • Number of Aircraft: 7

Aircraft disposed include 13 Airbus A300B4, 4 Airbus A340-200, 4 Airbus A340-300, 11 Boeing 737-300 and 11 Boeing 747-200 and a number of turboprop aircraft.

Official website:

Regional PAL websites:

Other websites:

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