PAL launches direct flights to New Delhi

Manila Bulletin
By ANJO PEREZ
April 4, 2011, 3:37pm

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Airlines (PAL) now has direct flights to India with the launch of its Manila to New Delhi service last March 29. PAL’s return to India comes after 57 years of absence as the flag carrier used to make technical stops in Calcutta for its Manila-Europe flights.

The inaugural flight to New Delhi, PR 758, took off from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) at exactly 9:20 p.m. It took the Boeing 777-ER (extended range) wide-body jet just six and a half hours to cover the 4,775-kilometer route, with the flight arriving at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) at 1:30 a.m., India time.

More than 200 passengers disembarked at Gate 1A of the IGIA with no less than PAL chairman, Lucio C. Tan, heading the delegation. Indian tourism officials as well as airline and other business executives were on hand to welcome the group.

PAL president and Chief Operating Officer, Jaime Bautista, said, “Indeed, today, PAL is flying to India that’s a destination in its own right. Your country has emerged in recent years as one of the world’s economic powerhouses, with GDP growth of close to 9 percent this financial year. India’s economy is now the third largest in Asia and 11th largest in the world.”

According to Bautista, India’s booming economy has resulted in the emergence of a high-spending middle class of more than 300 million consumers that is growing by 20 million annually. Bautista added that travel is a major aspiration of the middle class and that PAL aims to tap in to that growing market.

Bautista said eight million Indians traveled to international destinations in 2009. Two million headed to Southeast Asia with most of them traveling to Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia—with only 32,817 going to Manila. With the new flight services, PAL aims to increase Indian passenger traffic with PAL providing 188,000 airline seats annually.

To formally launch the service in New Delhi, PAL hosted a luncheon for the local media at the Taj Palace Hotel. Aside from the big number of the local press, also in attendance were PAL executives headed by EVP-Commercial Group, Vivienne K. Tan, Foreign Affairs Secretary Esteban Conejos, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Director General Ramon Gutierrez, officials from the Department of Tourism and the Civil Aeronautics Board as well as selects guests from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and the Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry.