Philippine Airlines fleet
The Philippine Airlines fleet is composed of wide-body and narrow-body aircraft from five families : Airbus A320, Airbus A321ceo, Airbus A321neo, Airbus A330, their flagship Airbus A350, and Boeing 777., there were 61 aircraft registered in the PAL mainline fleet.
Current fleet
Aircraft types
Airbus A320
The Airbus A320-200 currently flies in short-haul destinations in Southeast and East Asia as well as domestic destinations.Philippine Airlines took delivery of its first Airbus A320 on August 5, 1997. The airline received 25 Airbus A320s since 1997 with the latest delivery in 2012. While the airline will retire older A320s, the newer A320 fleet will be transferred to the airline's low-cost subsidiary PAL Express.
Airbus A321
The Airbus A321 is the main aircraft utilized for short-haul and medium-haul flights that serve Southeast and East Asia, Guam, Brisbane and other domestic destinations.On August 28, 2012, Philippine Airlines ordered 23 Airbus A321-200 equipped with 2x IAE V2533-A5 engines. PAL later added one Airbus A321ceo order to its fleet. The first Airbus A321ceo was delivered in August 2013.
Airbus A321neo
On August 28, 2012, Philippine Airlines ordered 10 Airbus A321neos equipped with two Pratt & Whitney PW1133G-JM engines. The airline, in total, ordered 34 A321s of both Current Engine Option and New Engine Option variants.
On March 29, 2015, the airline announced that it will be receiving the A321neo starting 2017. However, the aircraft's delivered was delayed to May 2018 due to problems with the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G-JM engines. The delivery process of the first six A321neos ended in 2018 while the remaining fifteen A321neos in the SR variant will be delivered in the following years. However, PAL will only receive two A321neo SRs in 2019 as the airline revises its re-fleeting plan
The 6 Airbus A321neo LR variants will serve Philippine Airlines' medium-haul and long-haul routes such as Guam, Singapore, Tokyo, Ho Chi Minh City, Sapporo, Brisbane and Sydney, while the other SR variants will be serving short-haul regional routes in Southeast Asia and other neighboring countries.
Airbus A330
The Airbus A330-300 are primarily deployed in Asia and Oceania routes. They are also deployed in US territories like Honolulu and Guam and domestic destinations in high demand such as Puerto Princesa, General Santos City, Cebu and Davao.Philippine Airlines introduced their first Airbus A330-300 on July 30, 1997 with the delivery of their first aircraft. Philippine Airlines later acquired eight Airbus A330-300s to fill the gaps that the Airbus A300B4 left during its gradual retirement. In 2012, Philippine Airlines ordered 10 Airbus A330-300HGW, but later the airline later expanded its orders to 15.
The newer A330 HGWs use a pair of Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, unlike previous A330s which used a two General Electric CF6-80E1. The last A330s equipped with GE engines were retired on August 31, 2014.
Airbus A350
The Airbus A350-900 is primarily deployed in the airline's long-haul flights to cities such as New York, Toronto, London and their upcoming Seattle route. A350s are also used in regional Asian flights during peak seasons or when there is high demand in destinations such as Seoul, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Sydney, Singapore, and Tokyo. PAL's A350-900s have an MTOW of 278 tons, enabling non-stop Manila-New York City flights without payload limitations in either direction, a 7,404 nmi flight which began in October 2018.On April 9, 2016, Philippine Airlines finalized the purchase agreement with Airbus covering the firm order of six A350-900s, plus six options. The contract firms up a Memorandum of Understanding announced during the 2016 Singapore Airshow. The A350-900s, which will have a three-class configuration, are scheduled to be deployed on new routes to North America and Europe. The A350-900s also replaced the ageing Airbus A340-300s.
As of February 2018, Jaime Bautista, president of the airline's holding company, PAL Holdings Inc, stated they were also interested in the larger Airbus A350-1000 variant.
On July 14, 2018, PAL received its first A350-900. In February 2019, Philippine Airlines took delivery of their fifth A350 with the iconic Love Bus decal, representing the 40th anniversary of their partnership with aircraft manufacturer Airbus. It flew to Bangkok in March 2019.
Boeing 777
The Boeing 777-300ER is primarily used for long-haul flights to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver and Toronto. It was also used for service to London, but it was later replaced by the A350-900. Sometimes, they are also deployed in Asian and Australian routes.In 2009, Philippine Airlines leased 2 Boeing 777-300ER to replace the former flagship Boeing 747-400 from GECAS. The first aircraft was delivered in 2009. On March 12, 2007, Philippine Airlines finalized the purchase agreement with Boeing covering the firm order of 2 Boeing 777-300ERs, plus 2 options. The first PAL-owned aircraft was delivered on 20 June 2012, with it being the third Boeing 777-300ER for the airline.
The purchase of Boeing 777s effectively signals the end of additional 747-400 orders and production of the said aircraft in passenger configuration and a win for Boeing versus the Airbus A340-600 that was also being considered. In December 2016, 2 more B777s were delivered. In March 2017, an additional 2 B777s were leased from Intrepid Aviation with both aircraft being delivered in December 2017.
Philippine Airlines is eyeing to acquire the Boeing 777X to replace their aging Boeing 777.
Former fleet
Aircraft | Total | Year Introduced | Year Retired | Replacement | Notes | Refs |
Airbus A300B4 | 14 | 1979 | 2001 | Airbus A330-300 | ||
Airbus A319-100 | 4 | 2006 | 2014 | Airbus A320-200 | ||
Airbus A340-200 | 4 | 1996 | 1999 | - | Leased from AFS. Aircraft are from Cathay Pacific | |
Airbus A340-300 | 4 | 1996 | 1997 | - | Leased from Gulf Air | |
Airbus A340-300 | 4 | 1997 | 2014 | - | ||
Airbus A340-300 | 6 | 2013 | 2018 | Airbus A350-900 | Leased from AFS. Former Iberia aircraft. Last A340-300 operator in Asia. | |
BAC One-Eleven 400 | 4 | 1966 | 1971 | BAC One-Eleven 500 | ||
BAC One-Eleven 500 | 13 | 1971 | 1992 | Boeing 737 Classic | ||
Beech Model 18 | 2 | 1941 | Douglas DC-3 | |||
Boeing 707-320B | 1972 | Leased from Air Manila International | ||||
Boeing 727-100 | 2 | 1981 | 1984 | Boeing 737 Classic | ||
Boeing 737-300 | 15 | 1989 | 2008 | Airbus A320-200 | ||
Boeing 737-400 | 3 | 2000 | 2007 | Airbus A320-200 | ||
Boeing 747-200B | 9 | 1979 | 2000 | Boeing 747-400 | ||
Boeing 747-200M | 4 | 1988 | 1997 | Boeing 747-400 | EI-BWF was damaged during the Flight 434 incident, which was a test run for Bojinka plot | |
Boeing 747-400 | 4 | 1993 | 2014 | Boeing 777-300ER | ||
Boeing 747-400M | 1 | 1996 | 2014 | Boeing 777-300ER | Originally Kuwait Airways's second 747-400M, 9K-ADF, which was cancelled by the intended airline in favor of Boeing 777s. | |
Douglas DC-3 | 14 | 1946 | 1978 | |||
Douglas DC-4 | 41 | 1946 | Douglas DC-3 | |||
Douglas DC-6 | 2 | 1946 | Douglas DC-8 | |||
Douglas DC-6B | 1 | 1952 | Douglas DC-8 | |||
Douglas DC-8 | 14 | 1962 | 1979 | Airbus A300 | ||
Fokker F-27-200 Friendship | 1960 | 1967 | Hawker Siddeley HS 748 | |||
Fokker 50 | 11 | 1988 | 1999 | Airbus A320-200 | ||
Hawker Siddeley HS 748 | 1967 | |||||
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 | 6 | 1974 | 1996 | McDonnell Douglas MD-11 | ||
McDonnell Douglas MD-11CF | 2 | 1996 | 1998 | - | Leased from World Airways. | |
McDonnell Douglas MD-11ER | 2 | 1996 | 1998 | - | Leased from World Airways. | |
NAMC YS-11A-600 | 1972 | |||||
NAMC YS-11A-600 | 1972 | |||||
Short 360-300 | 1987 | Fokker 50 | One Short 360-300 crashed near to Iligan Airport. | |||
Sud Aviation Caravelle | 1972 | Leased from Filipina Orient Airways | ||||
Vickers Viscount 800 | 1959 | NAMC YS-11A-600 |
Fleet maintenance
The entire Philippine Airlines fleet of Airbus and Boeing jets were formerly maintained in-house at the PAL Technical Center, which consisted of two hangars. The hangars contained an engine overhaul shop, two engine test cells, and test shops. The responsibility of maintaining the fleet, as well as all the facilities, was subsequently transferred in 2000 to Lufthansa Technik Philippines, a joint venture of Hamburg-based Lufthansa Technik AG, a leading maintenance provider in aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul, and Macro Asia Corporation, one of the Philippines' leading providers of aviation support services and catering for foreign airlines, owned by Lucio Tan, the majority owner of PAL. LTP currently maintains an 8-bay hangar and workshops occupying 110,000 square meters in Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport.Currently all A320 including all A321 aircraft that are already delivered and those to be delivered are being maintained by Lufthansa. PAL Express is the budget arm of PAL and has overtaken PAL last 2012 in domestic seats second only to Cebu Pacific.
On May 18, 2018, Philippine Airlines signed a deal with Lufthansa Technik Philippines to maintain its new Airbus jets for 12 years. The deal, which took effect on May 31, is estimated to be worth P13.6 billion during its lifespan.