Flag carrier set to launch flights to New Zealand

FLAG carrier Philippine Airlines will launch flights to Auckland New Zealand, via Australia, on Dec. 1, 2015, as part of its expansion thrust overseas.

Philippine Airlines said in a statement Wednesday that it will fly four times a week from Manila to Auckland, via Cairns, Australia. The carrier will be using its mid-range Airbus A320, which has a capacity of 156 seats.

The decision comes more than a year after the Philippines and New Zealand sealed an air deal to increase weekly frequencies from 3 flights a week to 21 flights a week.

“The route will stimulate passenger traffic along three travel streams—Manila and Cairns, Manila and Auckland as well as Cairns and Auckland,” Philippine Airlines president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista said in the statement.

He added that the route would also drive more traffic between Southeast Asia and New Zealand.

In a related development, French plane maker Airbus flew its Airbus A350 XWB to Manila Wednesday to promote its newest long-range aircraft to Philippine carriers.

The maiden event, which included a 90-minute test flight from Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport, drew major Philippine carriers, including budget airline Cebu Pacific Air and Philippine Airlines.

“The A350 is a long-haul aircraft that can replace the long-haul aircraft of any airline—of course we will study it very carefully,” PAL’s Bautista yesterdau told reporters.

Cebu Pacific CEO and president Lance Gokongwei, who also attended Wednesday’s event, said there were no immediate plans to acquire planes with the range of the A350, which mainly competes with Boeing’s 777 series.

“The fleet strategy follows your network strategy. The A350 is ideal for long-haul, but we don’t have any routes at this point that require that range,” Gokongwei told reporters.

Cebu Pacific, which dominates domestics flights, has been ramping up its long-haul business and expanding in the Middle East and Australia.

Mike Bausor, Airbus’ marketing director for the A350 XWB, cited the aircraft’s lower operating costs, about 25 percent less than previous models in terms of fuel consumption.

The A350 XWB is being positioned for Asian buyers, Bausor said, given that the region would account for about 36 percent of global passenger traffic over the next two decades, against the present 30 percent.