PAL comeback to US East Coast expected to boost tourist traffic

Philippine Airlines Flight 127 preparing to depart from Terminal One of the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on March 18. . PHOTOS BY EMIL FERNANDEZ / PH EMBASSY

NEW YORK CITY— Nearly two decades after it last served its most distant point in the United States, national flag carrier Philippine Airlines finally made a long overdue comeback to the US East Coast by flying into New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on March 11.

The revival of PAL’s four-times-a-week service from Manila to New York via Vancouver and back, which took place on the occasion’s of the airline’s 74th anniversary is expected to boost passenger traffic to the Philippines.

“The resumption is something that thousands of our kababayans in this part of the United States have long been waiting for,” Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. said.

“This new service that PAL is commencing today not just offers Filipinos an alternative route back to the Philippines,” Cuisia said. “More importantly, it provides them with a deep sense of pride knowing that it is the national flag carrier that is bringing them home.”

Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. delivering his remarks during arrival and send off ceremony for passengers of Philippine Airlines maiden flight to New York at the John F. Kennedy International Airport on March 16.

Cuisia, along with Consul General Mario de Leon of the Philippine Consulate General in New York and Consul General Emilio Fernandez of the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C., and PAL President and Chief Operating Officer Jaime Bautista were at Terminal One of JFK International to welcome passengers of the maiden PR Flight 126 from Manila that included PAL Chairman Lucio Tan and to send off passengers for PR Flight 127.

The US market contributes the second biggest arrivals in the Philippines with about 15 percent of total visitor volume based on figures from the Department of Tourism.

Last year, passenger arrivals from the US reached over 600,000, Cuisia reported during the ceremonies also attended by Tourism Undersecretary Benito Bengzon; JFK Airport Deputy General Manager John Selden; and JFK Airport Terminal One Deputy Executive Director Rick Feltner.

Among those who welcomed the new service were members of the Filipino-American community in the East Coast, who took to social media to welcome the flight. A number of them said they will not only be promoting the new service but will also be taking PAL on their next visit to the Philippines.

“Some Filipinos from Washington, D.C., Maryland and Philadelphia have told the Embassy that they are willing to go all the way to JFK to take PAL even if they have the option to fly out to Manila from their respective gateways,” Cuisia said.

PAL’s New York to Manila route transits via Vancouver and operates four times a week.  Aside from New York, the carrier’s other US destinations are Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu and Guam.

Ambassador Cuisia with PAL President and Chief Operating Officer Jaime Bautista and members of the crew of Philippines Airlines Flight 127 from New York to Manila shortly before its departure from the John F. Kennedy International Airport.

PAL’s latest US route was part of a planned market expansion resulting from the upgrading in April 2014 by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the country’s aviation safety rating.  The FAA decision followed a review of the country’s procedures and facilities and restored the Category 1 safety status the Philippines had lost in January 2008.

In addition to starting new routes, the development also enabled the flag carrier to deploy its newer and fuel efficient Boeing 777-300 and Airbus A330 aircraft.

PAL first took to the skies in March 1941 using a twin-engine, five-seater Beech Model 18 aircraft from Nielsen Airfield in Makati to Baguio.  PAL now serves 31 destinations in the Philippines and 36 overseas destinations in Southeast Asia, East Asia, the Middle East, Oceania, North America and Europe.