Soaring to Greater Heights
PAL continues to enhance offerings with new nonstop flights to the east coast of North America using new Trans-Polar routings, the comeback of Middle East services, and the entry of more advanced De Havilland Dash 8-400s for inter-island flights and the Airbus A350-900s and Airbus A321neos for premium quality service on international routes.
2010's Milestones
April 04, 2012
PAL entered into an agreement with San Miguel Equity Investments, Inc. (SMEII), a wholly-owned subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation, which bought a 49% stake of the airline for USD 500 million.
August 28, 2012
PAL made history with its largest aircraft order, a USD 7 Billion deal for dozens of Airbus A330 widebody and A321 narrowbody aircraft.
November 30, 2012
PAL launched a pioneering service to Toronto, Canada, opening a gateway on the East Coast of North America after an absence of 15 years.
June 1, 2013
Two routes touching three Australian cities were launched: three weekly - Manila-Darwin-Brisbane services and four weekly Manila-Darwin-Perth services, deploying Airbus A320 jets. Darwin and Perth were maiden destinations for PAL while Brisbane was last served in October 2010.
July 16, 2013
PAL resumed flights to the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou (Canton), with four weekly flights flown by Airbus A320s.
November 06, 2013
PAL returned to Europe with a 5x weekly nonstop service to London Heathrow after a 15-year hiatus. The service initially operated as a 15-hour B777-300ER leg overflying South Asia and the Middle East, until breakthrough aviation deals in 2014 allowed for overflights through Eastern and Central Russia, cutting flight time to just 13 hours.
October 23, 2014
The Lucio Tan Group regained control of the airline when it purchased back the 49% shares held by San Miguel Equity Investments, Inc.
April 25, 2015
PAL opened a regular thrice-weekly Airbus A320 service to Quanzhou’s Jinjiang Airport in Fujian province, China, the ancestral homeland of many Chinese-Filipino families.
March 15, 2015
PAL resumed flights to New York, this time to JFK Airport, initially with one-stop flights via Vancouver.
December 2, 2015
PAL introduced flights to Auckland (New Zealand) and Cairns (Australia) with Airbus A320 aircraft PAL would upgrade the Auckland service to nonstop flights in December 2017, using A340s and later A330
June 13, 2017
PAL unveiled the first of eight reconfigured A330 Tri-Class aircraft, offering brand new Business Class, Premium Economy and Economy Class cabins with state of the art entertainment systems and extra comfort.
July 20, 2017
PAL accepted its first Bombardier Q400 “Next Generation” turboprop in Toronto, as the launch operator of the dual-class 86-seater aircraft (now known as De Havilland Dash 8-400).
August 01, 2017
The PAL Bombardier Q400NG flew its first commercial service between Cebu and Caticlan, gateway to Boracay.
September 20, 2017
A PAL Airbus A340 with registry RP-C3438 flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico, to evacuate over 100 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) from various parts of the Caribbean region affected by Hurricane Irma.
February 08, 2018
PAL was awarded a four-star rating from Skytrax after a major multi-year effort to upgrade services under a “Get That Star” program that involved departments and personnel from all over the company.
June 01, 2018
PAL took delivery of its first Airbus A321NEO aircraft, enabling nonstop narrowbody flights on long-range routes from the Philippines to Australia, northern Japan and other points in the Asia Pacific region.
July 14, 2018
PAL accepted its first Airbus A350-900 aircraft, offering a top-notch high-tech cabin and extra range to operate nonstop ultra-long-haul flights to New York and Toronto. The A350 was flown from Toulouse to its new home in Manila, where PAL unveiled the new A350 and A321NEO aircraft to a gala audience led by the President of the Philippines.
October 29, 2018
PAL upgraded its New York JFK route to full nonstop services, with a brand new A350 operating the first nonstop Manila-JFK flight, setting a new record for the longest commercial flight ever operated by a Filipino airline (and also the eighth longest commercial air route flown by any airline in the world).
June 18, 2019
PAL won the 'World’s Most Improved Airline Award' for 2019, as the airline that achieved the biggest leap in product and service quality among a Skytrax survey of over 350 leading airlines worldwide. PAL was ranked the 30th best airline in the world.
February 01, 2019
ANA Holdings, Inc., the parent company of All Nippon Airways, acquired a 9.5% equity interest in PAL Holdings, Inc. (PHI), ushering in a new era of partnership between Japan’s largest airline and the Filipino flag carrier.