PAL prepares for Europe

Aya Lowe

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The legacy carrier wlll acquire 4 new Airbus aircraft in preparation for the long haul flights to Europe

LOOKING TOWARDS EUROPE. PAL prepares for Europe by acquiring new fleet. Photo by AFP

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Airlines (PAL) is getting ready to fly to Europe.

Jointly owned by taipan Lucio Tan and diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC), the legacy carrier will acquire 4 new Airbus aircraft in preparation for the long haul flights to Europe. 

“Yesterday our board approved the acquisition of 4 new units of Airbus 340-300 in preparation for long haul going to Europe,” PAL president and COO Ramon Ang said on the sidelines of a launch event announcing PAL’s 12 new routes.

Ang said he was confident that the ban imposed by Europe and the US preventing local airlines from flying and mounting additional long haul flights would finally be lifted within the year.
 
“We hope we can soon fly to Europe,” said Ang. 

 “A representative of PAL went to the EU meetings in Brussels said he had good feedback,” he added.

Representatives from the US Federal Aviation Authority (US FAA) and the European Union are expected to visit the Philippines within the next two months to look into the country’s aviation safety standards.

The Philippines has been on the Category 2 list since 2008 as a result of deficiencies identified in the Universal Safety Oversight Audit program of the International Civil Aviation Organization. The downgrade happened after a safety audit conducted in November 2007 found a total of 23 deficiencies in the Philippines’ air industry regulations.

The European Union (EU) also raised significant safety concerns that resulted in the banning of Philippine carriers from landing in European airports. This ban has been in place since 2010.

In April 2013, the Philippines passed the global safety audit of a United Nations aviation body, marking the first step in the process toward the lifting of restrictions against Philippine carriers.

PAL has long been voicing its desire to expand to Europe as part of its aggresive re-fleeting and expansion plan. It recently launched 12 new destinations, twice the original 6 planned to countries across the Middle East, Asia, Australasia and domestically in the Philippines. – Rappler.com

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