Philippine Airlines selects Airbus to perform cabin modification for 15 aircraft
Airbus will be performing cabin modification for 15 Philippine Airlines (PAL) aircraft and the airline is also expanding the material services programme for its Airbus fleet.
The cabin modification includes 11 A320s, two A330-300s and two A350-900s. PAL’s A320s will have 24 extra seats to bring the total seat count to 180. This configuration suits the carrier’s requirements for short-haul inter-island domestic routes. The airline’s two A330s will gain additional 50 seats to bring the total seat count to 359, and its A350s will gain another 18 seats, totalling to 313 seats.
Airbus will also be providing the relevant service bulletins and kits required for the cabin modification programme.
Nilo Thaddeus Rodriguez, PAL’s Chief Financial Officer, said: “Philippine Airlines believes that as we exit the pandemic our fleet restructuring strategy helps us to better adapt to changing market situations and ensure that we are well-positioned for recovery. Our aircraft deployment decisions and related technical support arrangements are tailored for a restructured network that suits a vastly different global environment.”
Alvin Kendrich Limqueco, PAL’s Senior Vice President Supply Chain Management, added: “We chose Airbus with the firm expectation that PAL will receive high-quality service bulletins and timely updates to technical documentation, along with the highly regarded extensive engineering support we expect from a leading aircraft manufacturer.”
PAL is also extending its Flight Hour Services material programme with Airbus to cover more of its fleet, with guaranteed parts availability to secure the operational reliability and efficiency of PAL’s widebody and narrowbody aircraft.
The Flight Hour Services (FHS) programme currently covers two A350s but will now include 37 more aircraft, comprising 29 A321 family aircraft and eight A330ceos. Airbus says it will provide components standard exchange, components repairs, component reliability and engineering services and on-site stock at PAL’s main base in Manila.
Anand Stanley, President of Airbus Asia-Pacific, said: “Airbus has its customers’ interests at heart and works closely with them to propose flexible material solutions that meet their needs. We are pleased that PAL recognises the significant savings and operational performance which Airbus can bring with FHS, extending the current arrangement to their A330 and A321 Family fleets.”