PAL flies to New Zealand starting December 2

MANILA, Philippines – Legacy carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) will fly to New Zealand for the first time on Wednesday, December 2, the airline announced Friday, November 27.

PAL will operate a 4 times a week service to Auckland, New Zealand via Cairns, Queensland, Australia. (READ: PAL to fly to New Zealand)

The Manila-Cairns-Auckland service will utilize the 156-seater Airbus A320, flying every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday.

PAL president Jaime J. Bautista will join guests on the inaugural flight and at a dinner reception on Friday, December 4, at Auckland, where Philippine and New Zealand government officials, travel agents, tour operators, local media, and representatives of the Filipino community in Auckland are invited.

Auckland Airport, the largest and busiest airport in New Zealand, is the second largest in Australasia. New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, is 649 kilometers by road from Auckland or 1 hour by air.

The city of Auckland, dubbed as the “City of Sails,” is the main transport hub and the largest in New Zealand with a population of 1.5 million, accounting for 32% of New Zealand’s total population.

3 travel streams

Bautista said the route will stimulate passenger traffic along 3 travel streams – Manila-Cairns, Manila -Auckland, as well as Cairns-Auckland. 

“The new service allows PAL to cater to the travel needs of business and leisure travelers…. Filipinos residing in New Zealand will find the new service as their convenient link to their home country,” he said.

There are more than 44,000 Filipinos residing in New Zealand that PAL aims to serve. The newest route would also allow Auckland and Cairns residents to discover Manila or connect to PAL’s 30 domestic and 39 international destinations.

Cairns and Auckland will become PAL’s 37th and 38th international points respectively.

Records showed passenger travel from the Philippines to New Zealand increased by 9.4% over the last 5 years, while the New Zealand to the Philippines travel grew by 11.6% over the same period.

Introductory fares

PAL is offering an introductory fare of US$880 (P41,489.36) for a roundtrip, economy class and US$2700 (P127,296.90) for business class on the Manila-Auckland route.

For round trip Auckland-Manila route, economy class fare is at US$705 (P33,238.64) for economy class and business class at US$2044 (P96,368.47).

Round trip fare for Auckland to Cairns, Australia starts at US$378 (P17,818.54) for economy class and US$1658 (P78,156.46) for business class.

Round trip Cairns-Auckland route is at US$368 (P17,353.61) for economy class and US$1832 (P86,390.77) for business class.

Round trip Cairns-Manila is at US$523 (P24,663.06) for economy class and US$2452 ($115,628.92) for business class; and roundtrip Manila-Cairns at US$1200 (P56,588.40) for economy class and US$2950 ($139,113.15) for business class.

Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, set to be launched on December 18, will be its 39th international destination. – Rappler.com

$1 = P47.16