Airlines, Airplanes, and Airports

[SunKing]

Originally Posted by GreyX

...Jakarta-Manila PAL flight is horrible! Thats why i always use SQ!

I've heard that the CKG-MNL flight is horrendous! Anyways, PR doesn't have commonality in the fleet! I believe there is only one out of five B747-400s that has PTVs in Economy (this plane was originally intended for Kuwait Airways) and the 744s use the older seats. The Airbus A330/A340s, on the other hand, are much more comfortable and the seats have those small "wings" which you could fold towards you. And they've also begun using a reorchestrated version of Jose Mari Chan's Love at Thiry Thousand Feet for boarding/deboarding music and I've also seen an ad featuring Jazz singer Kevyn Lettau.

On another note, I just came across this article from The Philippine Star:

European travellers shun RP due to absence of direct flights

The Philippine Star 04/16/2004

It is no surprise why fewer European tourists have visited the Philippines and their number will continue to drop in the coming years, it was learned yesterday.

According to Filipino airline executives, travelers have found it very inconvenient to take the flights from Europe to the Philippines because most airlines serving the route make stopovers or have connecting flights.

"There are no more nonstop or direct flights from Europe to the Philippines because the European carries have either stopped flying to Manila or made the country a mere extension or "tag-end" of their Europe-Bangkok operations," they said.

Philippine Airlines (PAL), the country’s flag carrier, suspended all European flights in 1998. Plans to resume them in 2001 and 2003 were aborted because of overcapacity and the resulting Philippines-Europe market diversion to Middle Eastern carriers.

The drop in tourist arrivals has been traced to the government’s decision granting unjustified and excessive capacity increases to Middle East carriers that eventually led to the stoppage or scaling back of the Philippines-Europe operations of European airlines.

"The mostly privately-owned European and Philippine carriers could not compete fairly with the subsidized Middle East airlines, which use their excess capacity to poach on the RP-Europe market. These Mideast carriers concentrate on the Filipino migrant worker traffic being served by direct European carriers," they said.

They pointed out that as a result of the unfair competition from Mideast airlines, these European and RP carriers have to cut back or stop their Philippines-Europe operations.

They stressed that with the absence of direct or nonstop flights from Europe to Manila, it is now more difficult to promote the Philippines as a tourist destination in the vital European market.

"It is difficult to attract European tourists to the Philippines if they are forced to take such indirect and circuitous routings offered by the Middle East carriers, specially in this age of terrorism scares," they added.

They said the Philippine government has been very generous in granting seat entitlements to Middle Eastern carriers at the expense of the Europe tourist market.

Data showed that the whole Middle East region produced only 18,456 tourists in 2003 as compared to Europe’s 175,618 tourists during the same period.

Among the European carriers that have ceased flying to the Philippines are British Airways, Swiss International, Aeroflot, Alitalia and Lufthansa Cargo. Air France and Lufthansa have made Manila a mere extension of their Frankfurt-Bangkok operations.

Data showed that in 1997-98, there were 12 nonstop flights per week from Europe to the Philippines. Now, there is none.

During the same period, there were 39 flights per week to the Philippines from European cities like Frankfurt, Paris, Rome, London, Zurich, Amsterdam and Moscow. Now, there are only 19 flights per week from Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam.

[absent-minded]

let's hope for the best that PAL can do something to bring flights back. maybe codeshare or team up with BA or Lufthansa to operate Euro-Manila routes to gain some ground over the Middle Eastern carriers...

[ryanr]

Thats sad. I hope our government can do something about this. They should promote tourism into our country more. They should also entice foreign airlines to fly to the Philippines. And they should also support PAL so that it can once again fly direct flights to Europe and compete with Mid-east airlines.

[renell]

well i don't think it has to do with terrorism or any of our own doing. if i read correctly, it is because of Mid-East carriers and their strong competition

[ryanr]

Thats what i said. Mid-East carriers are very competive because their governments subsidize airline fees, making them cheaper.

[SunKing]

I don't where to put this but I wanted to share this picture of Air Force One taken by Andreas Klingel when Dubya visited Manila on 18 October 2003.

[ryanr]

Cool...I love that plane. Dont they have a decoy Air Force one too? I heard it landed on NAIA before the actual AF1.

[SunKing]

Originally Posted by GreyX

Cool...I love that plane. Dont they have a decoy Air Force one too? I heard it landed on NAIA before the actual AF1.

Yup, there it is behind AF1. I think the press uses it and some staff of Dubya. They even brought Marine One for the state visit although he wasn't able to use it. AF1 was escorted by F-15s from Japan and peeled off just prior to landing.

[ryanr]

There was even a proposal to launch Marine One with the president from AF1 so that there is no need for landing AF1. Weird huh? Cant imagine how that will work.

[renell]

sounds complicated to me, but i wouldnt be surprised. after all, this is regarding the leader of the most powerful nation in the globe right now.

i'm not too fond of the AF1 colors. though from what i've heard, it's features are very eye-catching

[SKYLINEPIGEON]

hey philippine airlines is no 52 in the 2002 ranking of world airlines in terms of passengers flown, its fleet is around 29 anybody can cnfm but our neighbours thai airways, singapore, and malaysian airlines are in the top 20

[SunKing]

PR has 30 aircraft, this includes the Boeing 747-400 leased from GE Capital. This 744 was originally ordered by PR but was taken up by Canadian and later went to Air Canada.

[renell]

PAL is still lagging behind the great SIA and the emerging Malaysian flag-carrier. but it has done a good job 6 years after reconstructing

[ryanr]

PAL used to be the flagship carrier in the region but when the Philippine economy fell, it fell with it. Now it is lagging behind almost all major airlines in the region. But it is getting back on its feet, and growing quite rapidly.

I have a question, how old are the 747s PAL are using? And whenever it buys a new plane, it doesnt get them brand new right? Either leased or second had. Wish PAL got brand new planes like 777s and 747s. Maybe even A340s and A380s

[SunKing]

PR's first 747-400 was manufactured and delivered to them in 1993 and the newest 744 was manufactured in 1996. It is the one originally intended for Kuwait Airways but PR took it since it is a Combi model, meaning about half of the main cabin could be converted for carrying cargo, I believe this is the one with the PTVs. The 744 which was delivered to them in February was manufactured and delivered to Canadian Airlines in 1995. So that would make the 744 fleet, what, 9.5 years old? I think all their planes are leased, the registered owner of the 4 US-registered 744s is a 'Wilmington Trust Company' in Delaware and the latest one is from GE Capital. The Airbus A330/A340s are French-registered, some 737s are registered in Ireland, although the A320s and also a handful of 737s are PI-registered.

On a personal note, I think it's time to change their livery, this one was introduced back in 1986! I don't think it looks old but it makes the fuselage look too bland, I love the tails, though.

Anyway, here are two images of PR's first forays into Las Vegas.:

[SunKing]

Hmm, some bad news:
Tuesday, April 27, 2004

PAL, 2 other fliers get attack threats

BANGKOK—Three airlines, including Philippine Airlines (PAL), have been threatened with attacks on their Bangkok offices, in warnings thought to be issued by a group that has targeted Asian embassies, flights and tourist spots, Thai police said Monday.

Police said Korean Air, Philippine Airlines and Kuwait Airways received letters warning of strikes against their offices, in a campaign believed to be linked to US-led operations in Iraq.

Special Branch commander Tritot Ronaritwitichai said the letters were similar to warnings sent to the Pakistani and South Korean embassies last week by a mysterious group known as the “Yellow-Red Overseas Organization.”

“The letters are similar to that sent to the Korean Embassy; the format and fonts are similar. We believe they are the same group,” he said, adding that investigators were trying to determine whether the threat was genuine.

“We believe that Thai people who are opposed to the troop deployment in Iraq are behind this...However, we think they do not have the capacity to carry out what they threaten in the letters.”

Thailand is deliberating whether to withdraw its 440-strong troop deployment in Iraq due to the deteriorating security situation there.

A Korean Air representative said security around its operations at Bangkok airport had been stepped up but that services were operating normally.

“The letter threatened terrorist attacks against the airline office in Bangkok, but not against flights,” he told Agence France-Presse.

He said Singapore Airlines had also received the threats, but police said they were only aware of letters to the three airlines and a Singapore Airlines official declined to comment.

Kuwait Airways was immediately able to respond, but a Philippine Airlines representative confirmed a letter had been received. “We don’t have any idea who is responsible,” he said.

The Korean Air official played down the warnings, saying he did not believe it was a serious threat.

“I don’t think the people behind this letter are really aiming to mount a terrorist attack,” he said.

“I think it was done by a group which has lost advantages in Korea and are using the current situation where people are concerned about terrorism for their benefit.”

The official said one group under suspicion were labor brokers in Thailand who were being closely monitored by South Korean authorities after workers they tried to send to South Korea were turned back.

Thai authorities said last week that they were taking seriously the first set of letters which threatened attacks on major facilities in Australia, Japan, Kuwait, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand between April 20 and 30.

With the exception of Pakistan and Kuwait, all the countries listed have been involved in US-led operations in Iraq. Islamabad became a key ally in Washington’s war on terror after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

The threat came ahead of the planned visit to Thailand by Pakistani Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali from April 28 for talks with his counterpart Thaksin Shinawatra.
-- AFP

[ryanr]

Terrorists also had a plan before 9/11 to bomb USA bound planes crossing the pacific, and i heard that one of their targets were PAL planes.

[renell]

yeah, i remember reading that in time magazine..

[David-80]

Some info from Indonesia.

Garuda Indonesia will resume (Jakarta) CGK-MNL flight on december with using Boeing 73G Next generation (the new version). this will make the 1st 73G land in Manila.

And Indonesian carrier, Lion air also plan to fly from Manado to MNL with using Boeing MD-83. currently Bouraq Indonesia airlines flies to Davao from Manado with Boeing 732.

Good news for Manila !

cheers

[ryanr]

Thats good. Its been a long time since there have been direct flights between Manila and Jakarta. Whenever i go home from Jakarta, i always have to stop by Singapore. This doesnt bother me because i like stopping over at Changi, but it does get tiresome. Currently, PAL has a codeshare flight with Garuda for the MNL-SIN-CGK and vice versa flights. They use Airbus A330s in this route.

I usually (90% of the time) use Singapore Airlines whenever i fly back home. So this new direct flight wont impact me, as i will continue to use SQ