PAL flies to New York again

By Emmy Buccat

Martin Nievera being joined by Chairman Tan (right photo) while serenading the passengers.

The Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight from Manila to New York via Vancouver is at full throttle after the successful inaugural flight celebrations held recently in Manila, Vancouver and New York City. The inaugural flight headed by PAL Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Lucio C. Tan signifies the carrier’s forthcoming network expansion to the US East Coast after 19 years since the 1997 Asian financial crises.

Speaking at the inaugural reception held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Vancouver, PAL’s Vice President for Sales Ryan Uy said that the inaugural flight not only re-launch the Vancouver-New York route but will also double the expansion of Canadian operations.

“Vancouver is the main beneficiary of this increase; with flights going from 7 to 11 a week. There will be early morning, afternoon and evening flight for the Vancouverites. This may simply be a revival of the flight 19 years ago but the new service is now more enhanced as it utilized modern aircraft and going to JFK International.” Uy said.

Flight PR 126 is flying from Manila to Vancouver every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 11:50 p.m. It will arrive in Vancouver at 8:50 p.m. on the same day. The service continues to New York after a two-hour stop over leaving at 10:50 p.m. It will touch down at JFK International Terminal 1 at 7:00 a.m. the next day.

From New York, Flight PR 127 departs at 11:00 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, arriving for a stop-over in Vancouver at 1:50 p.m. It will leave at 3:20 p.m. and back in Manila by 8:35 p.m. the following day.

The code-share agreement between PAL and WestJet Airlines was formally announced as well. With the increasing number of Filipinos in other Canadian provinces, PAL will be allowed to market and sell WestJet-operated flights.

“PAL will have a code-share partnership with west jet which allows us to sell seats on 6 select WestJet flights in Canada from Vancouver and Toronto. Our alliance with them will triples PAL’s reach in Canada from two to seven cities across the country,” said Uy.

The event also launched the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) Visit the Philippines 2015 campaign. Recently appointed Director Purificacion Molintas, head of the Philippine tourism office in San Francisco, presented the “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” campaign brand to entice the Canadian travel agents to include the Philippine’s popular islands as one of the destinations whenever they prepare Asian travel packages for the Canadian market.

Vancouver-based singer Joey Albert hosted the inaugural reception with Manila-based singer Eric Santos providing a surprised entertainment for the guests.