PHILIPPINE Airlines announced on Friday that it will be fielding non-stop flights between Manila and Brisbane starting March 27. By removing the stopover at Darwin, flight time will be cut down to less than seven hours from the current nine hours and 20 minutes, PAL said in a statement.

The non-stop Manila-Brisbane flights will operate four times a week, initially using the Airbus A340, with the newly acquired longer-range Airbus A321 NEOs taking over later in the first half of the year.

PAL reasoned that more direct flights could lead to an improvement in tourism between the two destinations.

“Queensland is also home to a growing number of migrant and expatriate Filipinos. Flying direct to Manila will help encourage Queensland-based Australians to consider holiday trips to the Philippines,” PAL said in the release.

As a consequence of the new non-stop route, PAL’s flights to Darwin will be cancelled starting March 25. PAL reasoned that it would be too uneconomical to operate Manila-Darwin services unless market conditions improve.

“In the meantime, PAL will continue expansion to other key Australia destinations [such as] Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.”

Last year, PAL shifted to non-stop flights to Toronto, Auckland, Doha, Kuwait City, and Jeddah. — A. Mogato

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