Philippine Airlines to resume services to Delhi by March 2019

Philippine Airlines (PAL) is planning to resume services to Delhi in early 2019 with an aim to attract more Indian visitors and lead to faster growth in what is now the largest unserved market for the Philippines.

PAL, which has not been serving any destination in India since 2013, is planning to resume its operations to Delhi by March 31, 2019. The Philippines-India market has been growing rapidly in recent years, and even faster growth is likely as nonstop services are introduced.

Manila-Delhi will be the fifth long haul narrowbody route for Philippine Airlines, along with Manila to Brisbane, Port Moresby, Sapporo and Sydney. PAL initially operated widebody aircraft (a mix of A330-300s and A340-300s) to India after launching services to Delhi in 2011. However, the nonstop flights only operated for a few months and were dropped in Oct-2011. The one-stop flights via Bangkok were downgauged to A320ceos in Jul-2012 and dropped entirely in Jun-2013.

PAL was previously considering launching services to both Mumbai and Delhi. HOwever, the authoroties have zeroed in on Delhi as the destination. The airline had launched services to Delhi in Mar-2011, with three weekly nonstop flights and three weekly one-stop flights via Bangkok. The new A321neo has 12 lie-flat business class seats along with 156 economy class seats with seatback IFE.