Philippine Airlines sheds seats to capture premium market

Philippine Airlines will remove more than 100 seats from some of its aircraft in a bid to woo more premium passengers.

Eight of the national carrier’s 414-seat Airbus A330-300s will be reconfigured with a three-class layout, offering passengers a choice of business, premium economy and economy cabins. Following the revamp, each aircraft will feature just 309 seats – 105 fewer than before.

The 18 business class seats will be up to 61cm wide and recline into fully-flat, 198cm-long beds. All these seats will have direct aisle access, and Philippine Airlines will become the first Asian airline to feature seats with a “pneumatic comfort system”, which allows the passenger to adjust the seat’s firmness.

The 24 premium economy seats are 48cm wide and have 97cm of legroom, while the 267 economy class seats are 43cm wide and have 81cm of legroom. Passengers in all cabins will have access to USB ports and in-seat power outlets, touch-screen in-flight entertainment systems, and Wi-Fi. They will also be able to download the IFE content to their own tablets or smartphones using the myPAL Player app.

“As we journey on to becoming a five-star, world-class, full-service carrier… we devote our efforts towards enhancing the total travel experience. Our cabin reconfiguration efforts combined with meticulous seat and IFE selection are in line with our goal to make each and every flight pleasant, comfortable and convenient,” said Philippine Airlines’ president & chief operating officer Jaime Bautista.

The eight reconfigured A330s will be progressively rolled out over a period of seven months from June 2017, on routes to Honolulu, Melbourne, Sydney, Singapore, Tokyo (Haneda and Narita) and Osaka.