PAL sees brisk demand for Manila-Seattle flights, more so by Christmas

PAL VP for Sales Bud Britanico —Meg Adonis

SEATTLE, Washington — Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) has seen high demand for its first few direct Manila-Seattle flights, with the taipan Lucio Tan-led company expecting more travelers to fly to its latest United States gateway during the Christmas season.

Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday (Manila time), PAL vice president for sales Bud Britanico said their Manila-Seattle route had an average passenger load factor of around 80 percent to 90 percent, or above the 80.8 percent recorded during the full year 2023 for all its destinations.

Passenger load factor measures the number of seats occupied in an aircraft relative to the available capacity. Thus, a higher figure represents higher occupancy or more tickets sold.

“Our traffic is mostly actually [those flying] from the United States [to Manila],” Britanico said. “They stay [in the Philippines] for around two to three weeks, some [stay for] months. So when they come back, these flights will probably be much fuller.”

Peak season coming

Flying from Manila to Seattle takes 11 hours and 35 minutes while the return flight takes around 14 hours.

December is the peak season for those booking direct flights from Seattle to Manila, mainly because of Filipinos who want to go home to their families for Christmas, Britanico noted. They also expect more bookings during the summer season—March to May in Manila and May to mid-August in Seattle.

PAL began mounting flights to Seattle, its sixth direct route to the United States, on Oct. 2. For thrice a week—Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays— PAL deploys Boeing 777-300ER aircraft with a passenger capacity of 370 to the Pacific Northwest state.

According to Britanico, PAL chose Seattle due to the “massive Filipino community” in Washington State with about 180,000 Filipinos, making it one of the airline’s “biggest unserved markets.” It also houses tech giants Amazon and Microsoft, allowing for possible business-related traffic and investment opportunities.

Seattle is likewise the main gateway to a few other locations, such as Las Vegas and Portland, served by PAL’s airline partner Alaska Air.

PAL’s other US destinations are San Francisco, Honolulu, New York, Guam and Los Angeles, which is its most in-demand nonstop flight.

While both Texas and Nevada each have around 160,000 to 200,000 Filipino residents, PAL president and chief operating officer Stanley Ng clarified that they were still studying these routes.

The carrier previously served flights to Las Vegas before dropping the route in 2012 to focus on more profitable nonstop routes like Toronto, Canada.

For now, Ng said they wanted to prioritize marketing its Seattle route to other potential passengers, particularly foreigners.

“We want them to go to the Philippines for the tourist attractions. There’s so much more to share—food, culture, arts and beaches, of course,” he added.