Philippine Airlines (PR, Manila Ninoy Aquino Int'l) is considering exercising its A350 order options as it prepares to retire select aircraft in its fleet of ten B777-300(ER)s.
The Filipino carrier's February 2016 order with Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) entailed six firm A350-900s with options for six more. Thus far, it has taken delivery of five aircraft with a sixth, RP-C3508 (msn 303), set to head to Southeast Asia shortly.
“We are studying it, as we are constantly looking at new aircraft. We want to see our fleet grow up to a maximum of 99 aircraft by 2021 with the delivery of new A321 neo,” Vice President (Sales), Ryan T. Uy, told the Business Mirror newspaper.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, two of PAL's ten B777s - RP-C7777 (msn 37709) and RP-C7776 (msn 37712) - are approaching 10 years of age with the other eight currently under 7 years of age.
PAL president, Jaime Bautista, said last year that the carrier was also considering upgauging its options to the A350-1000.
PAL currently uses its A350-900s to serve Bangkok Suvarnabhumi and Singapore Changi in Asia as well as London Heathrow, New York JFK, and Toronto Pearson. The B777s are used to serve Vancouver Int'l, San Francisco, CA, Los Angeles Int'l as well as Bangkok and Singapore.
“We are seriously looking at Seattle Tacoma Int'l for North America. Chicago O'Hare is also an option. For Europe, we are seriously looking at Paris CDG or Rome Fiumicino,” Uy added.
PAL is looking at developing its presence in North and Southeast Asia by developing existing routes while growing new ones. It is also looking at opening up service to Delhi Int'l and Mumbai Int'l in India as well as Hangzhou and Chengdu in China where it will boost service to Beijing Capital, Shanghai Pudong, Xiamen, and Quanzhou.