Philippine Airlines first direct service between Manila and Perth commenced today, with the first service receiving the traditional water cannon welcome from Perth Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting crews.
The service will operate on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, arriving into Perth at 7.15am and departing at 8.30am. The airline will operate the service using their A321NEO, with 168 seats, including 12 fully flat Business class seats.
The first direct service from Manila, was operated by Airbus A321-271N (NEO) RP-C9936. Flight PR223 pushed back at 11:48pm from bay N5 at Terminal 2 at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport and took off from runway 06 at 12:10am. Flying SSW over Palawan, Borneo and Bali, the aircraft landed on runway 21 at Perth Airport at 6:36am. After taxying in to the water cannon welcome, the aircraft parked on bay 153 at Terminal 1 International at 6:43am, 32 minutes early, after a flight time of 6 hours 26 minutes.
This morning’s inaugural flight was commanded by Philippine Airlines’ President and Chief Operating Officer Captain Stanley Ng. WA’s Minister for Tourism Roger Cook and Perth Airport’s Acting Chief Executive Officer Kate Holsgrove were on hand to welcome the flight.
The return service PR224 pushed back from bay 153 at Perth at 8:39am, taking off from Perth’s runway 21 at 8:51am. Turning left after take-off, it flew north and crossed the Pilbara coast near Barrow Island, heading north over Bali, Borneo and Palawan. It had to hold for a while before landing on Manila’s runway 06 at 3:48pm, parking back bay N5 at Terminal 2 at 3:54pm, a flight time of 6 hours 58 minutes, only four minutes late.
Perth Airport Acting CEO Kate Holsgrove stated “This new international service is a big win for WA business, the tourism and education sectors and exporters.”
“We’ve been working closely with the State Government and Tourism WA to secure this service which will inject more than 52,000 seats into the market each year.
“This will be a popular route and we expect strong two-way passenger numbers.
“It will give a real boost to our State’s efforts to attract more international students and tourists to WA. And it won’t take long for them to spread the message when they get back home about what a great city Perth is to visit.
“It’s also going to be quicker and easier for Western Australians to experience the 7,000-plus islands and amazing beaches on offer in the Philippines.
“The schedule into Manila will also maximise the opportunity to connect to some incredible destinations in the Philippines including Cebu and Davao, as well as making the most of Philippine Airlines’ extensive network throughout Asia and beyond to the USA.”
Ten years ago, Philippine Airlines operated indirect services between Manila and Perth via Darwin, but this was short-lived, running for three months from 3 June to 2 September 2013. The indirect service took around 9 hours from Manila to Perth, a minor time saving compared to other airlines operating via Jakarta and Singapore to Manila. That earlier service used A320s configured with 12 business class and 144 economy class seats, four times per week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday mornings, with flight PR219 arriving from Manila via Darwin at 07:50 and departing as PR220 to Darwin and Manila at 08:50.
Philippine Airlines later planned to commence direct services from Manila to Perth four times per week (MON/TUE/THU/SAT) using Airbus A321neo aircraft from 30 March 2020. This would have reduced the flight to 7 hours 15 minutes direct. However, this coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, so the launch was repeatedly postponed – to 26 October 2020, 29 March 2021, then 1 November 2021 and the postponed until the current service commenced.
David Eyre 
