Philippine Airlines used to have regularly scheduled flights between Manila and London utilizing the Boeing 777-300ER and Airbus A350-900 aircraft. Now here comes the Covid-19 pandemic, and 8 months ago, PAL had to cancel its regular London flights. However, it looks like PAL has plans to restore its only European destination.
Basically what PAL did was to mount special flights between Manila and London. These are flights on specific days only. In a way, they are trying to “test the waters” whether it would be feasible to return to its regular London flights. Last August 10, PAL mounted a flight from Manila to London and returned with 231 passengers utilizing an Airbus A350.
Other Manila – London flights are on August 24, September 7, September 21, and October 5, 2021.
Is the Manila – London demand growing?
According to PAL, there is a clamor to bring back London flights. However, reverting to daily flights once again may prove not feasible due to the current situation of the pandemic. The Delta Variant is fast spreading and countries still do have their guards up. Border control and entry restrictions are still in place.
In fact, the recent PAL Manila – London flight only allowed British nationals, Irish nationals, and UK residents to board this leg. While these special flights may also be considered as somehow a “mercy flight”, PAL number crunchers are definitely studying all the data to see if it would be feasible to return to a scheduled flight scheme for London.
Perhaps, we should see the results by October. Of course, November and December are months for many Filipinos to return home to celebrate the holidays with their families.
We just hope that PAL’s only European would be sustained. Hopefully, we do also want to see an increase in capacity and frequency due to the return of travel demand.
If PAL cannot expand domestically due to the lockdowns in the Philippines, then it may be more feasible to expand at least international operations.
