Seattle would become the airline’s 6th US route and 8th North American route.
Philippine Airlines is set to launch its new North American destination later this year, with a direct service to the city of Seattle in the United States of America, thus marking the beginning of the long-awaited flight service between the cities of Seattle and Manila.
Seattle makes six!
Starting October 2nd, the capital city of the Philippines, Manila, and Seattle in the US will see a direct flight service launched by Philippine Airlines (PAL), which the carrier will operate with three weekly services. This is a particularly significant service, as Seattle has a considerable Filipino population in the US, and according to the Port of Seattle, this is one of the most frequently requested routes.
With the direct route set to be operated from Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL) to Seattle Tacoma International Airport (SEA), this will become the airline’s sixth destination within the United States and the eighth destination in North America.
The other US destinations served by the airline include popular cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York.
PAL’s President and COO, Capt. Stanley K. Ng in the press release commented
“Our Manila-Seattle-Manila flights give us a valuable opportunity to promote our beautiful island country as a flourishing tourist and business destination for American travellers. We also look forward to serving Filipinos who hope to reunite with family members or experience new travel adventures in the vibrant U.S. Pacific Northwest.”
Itinerary
The airline will operate three weekly roundtrip flights on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, using the carrier’s fleet of Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
| Flight Number | Departure | Arrival | Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| PR-124 (MNL-SEA) | 22:40 | 19:15 | Wed, Fri, Sun |
| PR-125 (SEA-MNL) | 23:40 | 04:45* | Wed, Fri, Sun |
* due to the crossing of the International Date Line, flight PR-125 arrives in Manila +2 days after the departure.
The carrier’s Boeing 777-300ERs have a capacity of 370 passengers in a two-class configuration. These include 42 lie-flat seats in business class laid out in a 2-3-2 layout and 328 seats in economy class, laid out in a 3-4-3 layout.
The deployment of the 777 will allow the airline to utilize the aircraft’s cargo capacity and add up to 60 tons of cargo capacity to the US every week.
High demand
The services to the United States are quite important for the airline, considering over 900,000 Americans visited the Philippines in 2023, which makes the US the second-largest tourist market for the country. Additionally, the airline notes the increasing trend of Filipinos visiting friends and family in the US, particularly Washington and Oregon, which are home to over 240,000 Filipino Americans.
Furthermore, passengers traveling with PAL will be able to connect to various US destinations such as Chicago, Houston, Las Vegas, and Washington D.C. via airline partners in the US. Similarly, passengers traveling to Manila will be able to connect onwards within the airline’s domestic and regional destinations such as Cebu, Davao, Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Kuala Lumpur.
Overall, the carrier will operate 46 weekly flights to its destinations in the US, along with its two destinations in Canada – Toronto and Vancouver. Furthermore, it is possible that the airline might expand its route network with more destinations as the carrier is set to receive nine new Airbus A350-1000s towards the tail end of 2025.
By ABID HABIB
Source SimpleFlying.com
