Philippine Airlines (PAL) has relaunched its top routes to mainland China, opening direct flights to Shanghai yesterday, February 14 and resuming its Beijing service next Tuesday, Feb. 21.
Mainland China was the second largest source of tourists to the Philippines with 1.74 Million Chinese residents visiting in 2019.
Now, the flag carrier is resuming passenger flights linking Manila with Shanghai’s Pudong Airport and Beijing’s Capital Airport almost three years after halting services due to pandemic-related border restrictions.
“We are forging ahead with the restoration of PAL’s Greater China flight network, an investment that will strengthen our connections to the economic hubs in the mainland and help boost bilateral relations between the Filipino and Chinese people,” PAL President and COO Capt. Stanley K. Ng stated Wednesday, February 15.
“We hope that our relaunch of flights to Beijing and Shanghai will fuel a rebound in tourist and business travel," he added.
"Our goal is to once again operate the largest network of flights on multiple routes between mainland China and the Philippines.”
Shanghai and Beijing join Xiamen and Guangzhou (Canton) in the roster of PAL’s mainland Chinese destinations.
PAL is increasing its Manila-Xiamen-Manila flights from once weekly to three times weekly starting from February 25; and its Manila-Guangzhou-Manila flights from once to twice weekly starting February 16, and progressively increasing to daily flights starting on March 26.
Its service to Quanzhou (Jinjiang) and Macau resumes in March, 2023.
Starting February 14, PAL is flying Manila-Shanghai (Pudong)-Manila three flights per week. It will then increase its frequency, flying daily from March 26.
On the other hand, PAL’s Manila-Beijing (Capital)-Manila service will start from February 21.
Next, PAL will offer flights to Jinjiang on March 19, 22 and 24, then increase to daily flights from March 26.
Furthermore, PAL will restore twice weekly regular flights between Manila and Macau, starting March 26.
PAL will likewise increase its Manila-Xiamen-Manila services to twice weekly effective from February 14, with a third weekly frequency commencing on February 25.
A major ramp up of services between Manila and Guangzhou (Canton) will see PAL’s flights increasing to twice weekly on February 16, then progressively adding frequencies to reach a full daily service by March 26.
PAL is working closely with Chinese and Philippine health and aviation authorities to ensure the highest level of health safety protections for travelers.
Prior to the pandemic, PAL served the mainland Chinese cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Quanzhou (Jinjiang) and Xiamen for a total of 34 weekly flights.
From March 2020 up to the present, PAL operated regular and ad hoc all-cargo and charter flights to mainland China, including passenger charters to Tianjin and Wuhan, as well as special vaccine transport flights.