Airlineroute is reporting that Philippine Airlines has updated their internal schedule indicating a change in their service to Toronto (YYZ). Up to this point, the flight has been operated with 1-stop via Vancouver (YVR) on board the airlines’ 777-300ER aircraft.
Starting December 2017, PAL plans to serve Toronto non-stop from its hub in Manila, thereby scrapping the stopover in Vancouver. So far, this has only been scheduled between mid December, 2017 and late March, 2018 although it will be interesting to see if the airline maintains this service beyond the winter season.
When attempting to book via PAL’s website during the dates in which the flight will operate non-stop, a search result yields only “Fare Not Available” and “Sold Out” messages. I suspect this will be cleared up in the coming days as the airline loads the new flight into its inventory and makes seats available.
Wait… Does the Plane Have that Kind of Range?
According to Boeing’s website, the 777-300ER has a range of 7,370 nautical miles. For comparison, a flight from New York (JFK) to Hong Kong (HKG) on the same aircraft (with Cathay Pacific) hovers at roughly 7,000 nautical miles. The Toronto to Manila flight comes in a bit longer at roughly 7,140 nautical miles (16.5 hours), which is stretching the 777-300ER’s range pretty thin.
I suspect this flight will also be incredibly hard to turn a profit on, considering the cost considerations of long-haul air travel exponentially rise with every passing mile. As it stands, PAL’s Toronto flight doesn’t have the ability to fly passengers solely between YYZ and YVR, as it would then be considered a domestic flight and therefore not granted 5th freedom status. As a result, the loss of the Vancouver stop will not cost PAL much in terms of passenger revenue, but instead in fuel. Still, long haul flights like these can be difficult, just look at Cathay Pacific’s (CX) recent losses.
Philippine Airlines outfits its 777-300ER’s in a two class configuration consisting of 42 angle-flat “Mabuhay Business” (business class) seats and 328 standard economy class seats.
Heres the seat-map courtesy of PAL’s website:
As you can see, the hard product doesn’t look too appealing. A 2-3-2 (angle-flat) business class layout and 3-4-3 economy layout is nothing to write home about.
Nonetheless, this is an interesting new long-haul route. The price of oil has nowhere to go but up, so there really is no better time to take advantage of the 777-300ER’s range and test out a new route.
To the Point!
This is a great development for passengers on the East Coast of Canada and the United States. PAL already has a flight to New York that operates via Vancouver, although a quick hop up north of the border to Toronto and then a direct flight to Manilla sounds like a good alternative.
It is important to note that this flight has not yet been confirmed nor is it bookable. So lets just hope that the route actually materializes in the coming days.
*Featured Image Courtesy of Philippine Airlines
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