We flew PAL’s A350-900 from Toulouse to Manila

When you are abroad, it’s often difficult to get news from home, especially when we learned that Sen. Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao his fight against Lucas Matthysse. What I did not expect was to find out that Pres. Rodrigo Duterte watched the fight at the VIP section of the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur together with his son Sebastian and they were accompanied by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. That fight was good for the Pacman and diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Malaysia.

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We finally flew for the first time, the brand new Airbus A350-900 of Philippine Airlines (PAL) from the Airbus Industries headquarters in Toulouse, France together with officials of PAL, led by president and CEO Dr. Jaime “Jimmy” Bautista and PAL top officials like director Michael Tan and PAL spokesperson Ma. Cielo Villaluna. The A350-900 was piloted by Capt. Butch Generoso and PAL’s presidential crew led by purser Rex Abelo and flight attendant Rachel Baliao who gave us 4-Star service!

On board this trip were friends from the media with Philippine STAR’s Millet Mananquil, Joanne Rae Ramirez, Marianne Go, Victor Agustin, Iris Gonzales, Lorie Cabanes and Arnel Patawaran of Manila Bulletin, Thelma San Juan of Inquirer, Anna Sobrepena of Lifestyle Asia, Itchie Cabayan of the Journal Group, Rector Mercene of Business Mirror, Roderick dela Cruz of Manila Standard, Dinah Ventura of Daily Tribune and Tessa Arriola of Manila Times. Also with us were the bloggers Sam Chui and Alex Macheras. I considered myself as MyTV, Freeman and Philippine STAR; after all I was also taking video shots of this historic event.

Our main event was last Friday when we heard the speeches of Airbus Industries president and CEO Fabrice Bregier and PAL president and CEO Dr. Jaime Bautista. Basically we were told the great reasons why PAL did the right thing in acquiring the A350-900, which basically points to the A350 as the world’s latest generation airliner, featuring the most modern aerodynamic design, carbon fiber fuselage and wings. PAL has gotten the first six A350-900 aircraft, with option for another six when they signed this deal in Singapore. Already we saw two A350-900 in the Airbus Hangar.

On Saturday, which was Bastille Day in France, we witnessed the formal blessing of the aircraft at the Airbus Terminal in Toulouse. I gathered that there will be another blessing today at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to introduce this great aircraft especially that it is the birthday of PAL chairman Lucio Tan.

Just a couple of months ago we flew to Davao City with PAL executives to introduce PAL’s main domestic fleet from Bombardier the Q-400. From these two planes PAL would certainly profit from the fact that their operating costs are very low. As Mr. Bregier pointed out “The A350 XWB has set new standards, combining extra long range capability with the lowest operating costs of any aircraft in the larger twin-aisle category. Passengers flying with PAL can look forward to the new levels of comfort offered by the aircraft, with a wider and quieter cabin, and more personal space for all.”

Arriving at NAIA on Sunday afternoon, we were welcomed by two fire trucks of NAIA with water over the plane fuselage. Incidentally, PAL also signed a $600-million order with Rolls-Royce for Trent XWB engines to power the six A350. When the A350-900 finally took off from Toulouse Blaganac Airport, the first thing you will notice is the lower engine sound, which means Rolls-Royce has really come up with an engine with low noise capability…plus a 96 percent reliability. Airbus was proud to tell us that they currently have 18,397 orders for Airbus planes, of which 11,229 have been delivered and they have a backlog of 7,168 planes.

Airbus executives proudly told us that an Airbus plane lands or takes off every 1.8 seconds all over the world. PAL has a special relationship with Airbus which dates back to 1978 when PAL acquired the famous A300B4, which was given the nickname “The Lovebus.” Today PAL flies the A320, A330 and A340 family. Added to this are the new fleet of A321 Neo and the A350-900 XWB. The A350-900 has a three-class configuration (business class, premium economy and regular economy) and is capable of flying non-stop from Manila to New York on a full load.

Again, congratulations to PAL especially to chairman Lucio Tan who celebrates his birthday today. Happy Birthday Kapitan! I have no doubt that the A350-900 will certainly be a winner for PAL’s very discriminating guests. But like what I said, even the economy seats have wide leg rooms and each seat has a television screen bigger than the biggest iPad. Best of all, PAL flies non-stop to London or New York direct from NAIA. This means less hassle for passengers who often have to suffer long waits for the flights to resume to their final destinations. Kudos to PAL and pres. and CEO Jimmy Bautista!

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