At the end of this month, PAL will be bumping up services to a handful of Southeast Asian capitals.
Photo: Philippine Airlines
With just days to go before the Philippines reopens its borders to international travelers on February 10, the latest monthly update to its flag carrier’s schedules may come as a surprise. Philippine Airlines is taking a cautious approach by maintaining or even scaling back frequencies on the bulk of its long-haul routes. For instance, the number of scheduled flights between Manila and Brisbane has been halved to once every two weeks; Melbourne will be served twice a week, the same as the first half of January, while passengers are still being flown to Sydney on a thrice-weekly basis. There are no significant changes though Australia is poised to welcome all double-vaccinated visitors from February 21, signaling the resumption of two-way quarantine-free travel between Australia and the Philippines.
In Canada, scheduled flights on the Manila–Toronto route have been reduced from twice weekly to weekly, and Vancouver will be served four times a week, down from five last month. Demand for travel to and from California remains strong: outbound flights to Los Angeles are running nine times a week, increasing to 10 on the return. PAL will fly from Manila to San Francisco five times weekly, but operate daily the other way. One-way flights from Los Angeles to Cebu are now scheduled twice a week after being temporarily rerouted to Manila in January. Return services between Cebu and Tokyo Narita will continue to operate twice a month, with the second one penciled in for February 19.
Continued government restrictions on international arrivals mean that Philippine Airlines must continue diverting some of its incoming flights. Only one weekly flight from the daily Dubai service will actually land in Manila. Those arriving every Wednesday and Saturday are being rerouted to Subic, flights operated on Fridays and Sundays will land in Cebu, while the Tuesday and Thursday services will touch down in Davao.
That said, PAL is planning to increase frequencies on certain regional routes in the weeks ahead. March 1 will see flights from Manila to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore ramped up to daily; an additional weekly return service to Jakarta will begin operating on the same date. Elsewhere in Asia, the airline is currently running one-way flights from Seoul to Manila four times a week, but those in the other direction are due to start only on March 2.
Here is the latest information on PAL’s international services departing from Manila:
| Country/Territory | Destination | Frequency |
| Australia | Brisbane | 2 monthly (through Mar.) |
| Melbourne | 2 weekly | |
| Sydney | 3 weekly | |
| Cambodia | Phnom Penh | 1 weekly |
| Canada | Toronto | 1 weekly |
| Vancouver | 4 weekly | |
| Guam | Guam | 2 weekly, then 3 weekly from Mar. 1 |
| Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 4 weekly (from Feb. 20) |
| Indonesia | Jakarta | 3 weekly, then 4 weekly from Mar. 1 |
| Japan | Fukuoka | 4 weekly |
| Nagoya | 4 weekly | |
| Osaka Kansai | Daily | |
| Tokyo Haneda | 5 weekly | |
| Tokyo Narita | Daily | |
| Malaysia | Kuala Lumpur | 3 weekly until Feb. 19, then 5 weekly until Feb. 28, before going daily in Mar. |
| New Zealand | Auckland (via Brisbane) | 2 monthly (through Mar.) |
| Papua New Guinea | Port Moresby | 2 monthly (in Mar.) |
| Qatar | Doha | Daily |
| Saudi Arabia | Dammam | 2 weekly |
| Riyadh | 2 weekly | |
| Singapore | Singapore | 5 weekly, then daily from Mar. 1 |
| South Korea | Seoul Incheon | 4 weekly (from Mar. 2) |
| Taiwan | Taipei Taoyuan | 3 weekly (except Feb. 11) |
| Thailand | Bangkok | 3 weekly until Feb. 18, then 5 weekly until Feb. 28, before going daily in Mar. |
| UAE | Dubai | Daily |
| United Kingdom | London Heathrow | 1 weekly |
| United States | Honolulu | 2 weekly |
| Los Angeles | 9 weekly | |
| New York JFK | 3 weekly | |
| San Francisco | 5 weekly | |
| Vietnam | Hanoi | 1 weekly |
| Ho Chi Minh City | 2 weekly |
More information here.
