Philippine Airlines adding extra flights to US and Canada during summer travel season

New flights will be from Manila and Caticlan in Philippines to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver

Philippine Airlines, the flag-carrier airline of the Philippines, has decided to increase the number of flights to the United States, Canada as well as flights to the country’s key domestic tourist spots during the peak summer travel season. The airline said in a statement that it would add one weekly flight each to Los Angeles and San Francisco in the United States as well as augment its weekly flights to Los Angeles to 10 and to San Francisco to 8.

The additional flights, Philippine Airlines said, would make use of an Airbus A340-300 aircraft, which would fly to Los Angeles every Friday from April 10, 2009, to June 19, 2009.

Another A340-300 jet will operate service to San Francisco every Sunday from April 12, 2009, to June 21, 2009.

In the statement, Philippine Airlines also said it would operate daily services direct to Vancouver in Canada from March 23, 2009, in order to cater to a “sizeable Filipino migrant community” in Canada as well as to business and leisure travellers.

On the Vancouver route – which is the only direct link between the Philippines and Canada – Philippine Airlines will use Airbus A340-300 jets with a seating capacity for 264 passengers.

At present, Philippine Airlines operates 5 flights weekly to Vancouver, with onward flights to Las Vegas.
PAL Express, the low-cost regional airline of Philippine Airlines, will add one daily flight between Manila, the capital of the Philippines, and Caticlan, in the central Philippines, from March 20, 2009. This extra flight will would raise the number of PAL Express’ daily flights to the resort island of Boracay to 11 daily flights, the Philippine Airlines’ statement said. Caticlan is the gateway to Boracay.

In addition, PAL Express plans to operate a second daily flight to Busuanga island, where some of the famous beach resorts are located.

During the peak summer travel season, PAL Express will add two flights a week to central Cebu city and southern Cagayan de Oro city as well as increase the number of its regular jet services to Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and 6 other cities in the central Philippines and southern Philippines.

Philippine Airlines said it would add to its regular jet services between Manila and Bacolod, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Kalibo, Legazpi, Puerto Princesa and Tacloban with extra flights of varying frequency throughout the peak summer season.
Philippine Airlines is increasing its operations during the summer travel period notwithstanding the worldwide economic slump that has already slowed down tourist traffic globally and expected to continue in the months to come.

Philippine Airlines revealed in the statement that it suffered a net loss of US $113.8 million ($176 million) in the first half of the current fiscal year to March 2009 owing to higher prices of fuel.

KTM bikes in India by Q2 of next fiscal

The first batch of KTM bikes will roll out of the Bajaj Auto stables right in time for the festival season. India’s two-wheeler major will unveil the KTM machines initially as completely knocked down kits, it is said.

With the deal, Bajaj was reportedly gearing up to take over the distribution for KTMs in South Asia. The two companies were also said to have decided on jointly developing 125cc and 250cc products. These products will be ready to be branded Bajaj or KTM and could be sold in either form across the globe. It s also being rumoured that with the CBU market in India set to grow, KTM’s bigger street bikes could ride into the Indian market place.
According to company sources, KTM bikes will be available by the second half of the next fiscal. Meanwhile, Bajaj Auto will kick off added excitement when it launches its Kawasaki Ninja 250R in mid-May. The Ninja 250R will be available at Bajaj dealerships for a price of around Rs 3 lakh.

Bajaj plans to intro the Kawasaki Ninja 250R as a completely built vehicle. The two-wheeler major is in fact set for more headlines as it has lined up its latest offering christened the XCD 135 cc DTS-Si bike. This machine will boast of drum brakes, said an official.

KTM’s bikes start from 50cc onwards. The company is a known name across the globe for its off-road motorcycle prowess. Meanwhile, its street bikes too have come of age. The Bajaj stake buy would probably make KT an accepted name in the Indian market, it is believed.

With the Bajaj-KTM deal, it is also possible that the Indian market would now go for the orange coloured bikes which sport the Ready to Race tag from the Austrian maker, thanks to their presence soon at Baaj dealerships.