Philippine Airlines to launch Las Vegas service

Philippine Airlines is to launch a new route to Las Vegas via Vancouver on March 16, 2004, kicking into high gear the flag carrier's recovery effort while laying the groundwork for further forays into new markets.

The new product means the current four-times-weekly service between Manila and Vancouver will be revamped. From March 16, departure from Manila will be moved to an earlier time to accommodate the extension leg to Las Vegas.

Flight PR 106 will now depart Manila every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 4:40 p.m. Arrival in Vancouver is 12:45 p.m. the same day. The service continues on to Las Vegas at 2:15 p.m., arriving there at 4:40 p.m.

The return service, PR 107, departs Las Vegas at 6:40 p.m. on the same days, arriving in Vancouver at 9:15 p.m. It departs the Canadian city at 10:45 p.m. and arrives in Manila at 5:20 a.m. two calendar days later.

PAL has full traffic rights between Vancouver and Las Vegas. Widebody Airbus A340-300 aircraft will be deployed on the same-plane route to the North American points.

Las Vegas will be PAL's fifth US destination (after Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu and Guam) and 24th internationally. It also flies to 18 points in the Philippines.

"We are thrilled to be adding to our network such an exciting destination as Las Vegas, in tandem with Vancouver. This underscores our commitment to serve our customers in this important aviation sector in North America," said PAL president Avelino L. Zapanta.

The new service kicks off the peak summer travel season, one of the busiest periods in the Philippine travel calendar and a crucial test of PAL's resolve to regain lost ground after SARS and other crises hit it hard last year.

The airline was battered by the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome virus that gutted its markets in Asia, as well as by security, terrorism, military mutiny and other worries that gripped the Philippines throughout 2003.

This led to a sharp drop in revenue with PAL projecting a loss of between P700 million and P800 million at the close of its fiscal year on March 31, 2004.

But with passenger traffic showing impressive gains in recent months, PAL is methodically putting in place the elements for recovery. Last December 21, 2003, the airline took delivery of its fifth Boeing 747-400 and 30th aircraft overall. The jet alternates on the busy trans-Pacific and premium Japan routes.

"The opening of the Las Vegas route provides a new income stream for PAL," said Zapanta. "The service is aimed mainly at the high-yield leisure market out of Vancouver and Western Canada for whom the gaming tables and nightlife of Las Vegas is a major attraction."

Some incremental traffic from Manila is also expected, particularly balikbayans or Filipino-Americans living in the Rocky Mountain states of Nevada, Arizona, Colorado and Utah.

The Las Vegas launch presages a planned enlargement of the PAL network as the flag carrier bids to stake out new ground away from its traditional bastions of the US West Coast and Northeast Asia.

"New destinations in Europe, India and China are being eyed and PAL has commissioned in-depth studies on these markets. A decision on whether to introduce service to these points is expected in the 2004-2005 fiscal year starting April 1," Zapanta added.

The upshot of all these efforts is to turn the airline around and put it back on track to sustained profitability. Since entering a government-supervised rehabilitation program in 1999, PAL has booked profits in three out of five fiscal years.

The exceptions are 2001-2002, a period which covered the events and aftermath of September 11, 2001, and the current 2002-2003 fiscal year.