PAL to increase flights to Seattle

MANILA, Philippines — The Pacific Northwest is becoming a demand darling for flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL), leading it to raise Seattle flights to five times a week before the end of the year.

In an advisory, PAL said it is increasing its flight schedule to Seattle to five times weekly, from thrice currently, starting Nov. 25.

Seattle is turning out to be a demand-heavy route for the airline, especially as it is the lone player right now connecting the Philippines and the Pacific Northwest.

By Nov. 25, PAL will introduce Tuesday and Thursday departures from Manila and Seattle to provide travelers with flexibility when selecting their schedule. By then, PAL will be linking the two cities on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays.

PAL president Richard Nuttall said the airline decided to increase the flight frequency to attract more Americans to visit the Philippines. Likewise, Nuttall recognized the massive Filipino community in Washington, where Seattle is located, as a potential market to drive up demand.

Based on records from AAPI Data, Washington is the fourth largest state in the US housing the most number of Filipino-Americans at 194,682.

Nuttall said PAL wants to maximize its frequent flyer partnership with Alaska Airlines, which houses its operations at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

“Our decision to increase frequency to Seattle highlights the importance of the US market to the Philippine Airlines global network, and in particular the great value of Seattle as a gateway, not just to the Washington and Oregon areas, but to cities across US that we can now serve through the ongoing partnership with Alaska Airlines,” Nuttall said.

On top of passenger demand, PAL is banking on cargo requirements between Manila and Seattle to shore up revenues from the service. The new flights by November will boost cargo capacity of up to 40 tons in the Manila-Seattle corridor.

PAL currently flies to eight North American destinations: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto, Honolulu, Guam and Seattle. The airline is building up its long-haul flights to stay on top of airlines flying the trans-Pacific route of the Philippines and North America.

The airline deploys a Boeing 777-300ER for its Seattle flights, capable of flying 370 passengers, of which 328 are in the economy cabin and 42 in business class.