The
single aisle A321 aircraft are being purchased to enhance the
airline’s product offerings on domestic and regional routes, as
well as to support alliances with its partner airlines. The widebody
A330s will be operated on higher demand regional routes and longer
range services to the Middle East and Australia. PAL will announce
engine selections for all the aircraft at later date.
“The
orders we are placing with Airbus will play a key role in
revitalising PAL and growing trade and
tourism in the country, said PAL Chairman Lucio Tan and PAL President
Ramon S. Ang. “With these aircraft we will be able to offer more
passengers the best the industry has to offer across our Asia-Pacific
network. At the same time, we will benefit from the low operating
costs associated with new generation aircraft and the reduced impact
on the environment.”
“We
are extremely pleased that Philippine Airlines has placed
its confidence in our aircraft to meet its future requirements,”
said John Leahy, Chief Operating Officer,
Customers,Airbus. “This announcement demonstrates once again the
popularity of both the A320 Family and the A330, which remain the
leaders in their size categories in terms of operating economics,
reliability and passenger comfort.”
The
A321 is the largest member of the best-selling A320 Family, which
offers the lowest operating costs of any single aisle product line
today. These costs will be reduced even further with the arrival of
the new engine option (NEO), offering additional fuel savings of up
to 15 per cent. To date, over 8,500 A320 Family aircraft have been
ordered and more than 5,200 delivered to 365 customers and operators
worldwide.
The
A330 is one of the most widely-used widebody aircraft in service
today. Airbus has recorded over 1,200 orders for the various versions
of the aircraft, with some 900 now flying with 90 operators
worldwide. In addition to passenger and freighter aircraft, the A330
is also available in VIP and military transport / tanker variants.
