PAL’s Cebu-Los Angeles route stages a comeback

MANILA, Philippines — Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) is reviving its Cebu to Los Angeles route by the second quarter to restore the only direct air link between the Visayas and mainland US.

PAL said yesterday it would re-introduce in May a nonstop Cebu-Los Angeles service, which it briefly served from March 2016 to May 2017.

“We look forward to treating our customers to the fastest flights between the US Mainland and the Visayas/Mindanao region, via PAL’s new Cebu-LAX route,” PAL president and COO Gilbert Santa Maria said.

“Our upcoming service from Cebu to LA is a vivid demonstration of our commitment to build up Mactan Cebu as a global aviation hub, a dynamic gateway, not only to domestic points, but to major international destinations,” Santa Maria said.

The US will join Tokyo, Osaka, Bangkok, Nagoya and Seoul in the list of PAL overseas destinations served from Cebu.

The new service will also increase PAL’s network offering to a total of 64 flights weekly to the US, Canada and the US territory of Guam.

PAL expects the new service to help boost tourism as US-based leisure and business travelers can now avail of the fastest and easiest travel option, which is a single flight nonstop to Cebu versus less convenient options that involve transfer flight connections via other Asian airports.

The carrier said American tourists can also now take advantage of Cebu’s hub transit facilities to transfer to connecting PAL flights to Siargao, Camiguin, Davao, Boracay, Coron, Bacolod, and Iloilo, among others.

PAL’s Cebu-Los Angeles flights will depart three times weekly from the new Terminal 2 of the Mactan Cebu International Airport, utilizing PAL’s largest aircraft, the 370 seater Boeing 777-300ER.

PAL said earlier that it is also looking to launch by May a Manila to Seattle service. Seattle has long been in PAL’s pipeline for potential new services to other destinations in North America.

PAL is the largest airline operator in the Philippines-North America market, featuring all-nonstop flights to and from Los Angeles and San Francisco in the West Coast, New York (JFK Airport) in the East Coast, Honolulu in Hawaii and both Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.

The flag carrier also recently announced the inauguration of several international routes, including the first-ever nonstop flights between Manila and Perth starting March 30, Zamboanga and Kota Kinabalu starting March 29, and between Davao and Manado starting March 29.