Philippine Airlines (PAL) wants to become a five-star airline in five years to entice more tourists from Qatar and other GCC countries, a senior official has said.
“We will start reconfiguring eight of our all-economy A330s in the first quarter of next year,” PAL’s senior vice president for operations Ismael Augusto Gozon said in Doha.
Once done, these aircraft will have full flat all isle access business class seats. PAL currently offers economy and premium economy products on its flights to Doha via Abu Dhabi, which was launched on March 28.
“PAL is in the process of finalising the purchase of six A350-900s, which are expected to delivered between the first quarter of 2018 and before the end of 2019,” the official said.
PAL has already received the first of the five A320s, with the rest expected to be delivered next year. Two additional Boeing 777-300 ER and A321 are expected to be received between 2017 and 2022.
“We feel that it is time for us to offer not only more seats but also to improve the product offering,” stated Gozon who observed that PAL is also eyeing GCC tourists to visit not only the Philippines but also other parts of Asia and Australia using Manila as a gateway.
“We have been opening up quite a few destinations and the most notable is the Cebu - Los Angeles route, which allows us to tap the North American market from the second largest city in the Philippines,” the PAL senior official pointed out.
The airline will also be launching its own packages by the second half of this year to entice tourists from countries such as Qatar.
He said Qataris should stay at least for two weeks to fully enjoy the various destinations in the Philippines, comprised of more than 7,000 islands.
In a press statement, PAL president Jaime J  Bautista said the new Manila – Doha via Abu Dhabi route will allow more Qataris to discover the wonders of the Philippines through convenient connections to any of PAL’s 30 domestic and 43  international destinations.