Philippine Airlines (PR, Manila Ninoy Aquino International) will beef up its fleet of six B777-300(ER)s with the lease of two more during the course of next year. Airline president Jaime Bautista told CAPA that their arrival would allow PAL to transition its Los Angeles and San Francisco operations to an all-B777 operation instead of its current mixed service which also employs A340s.

While the Filipino national carrier is also looking to return its six recently acquired ex-Iberia (IB, Madrid Barajas) A340-300s to lessor Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) over the next three years, it may, in the interim, redeploy the type onto its London Heathrow service, where PAL is seeking additional slots, and to New York JFK.

Once the A340s have left, this would then allow the airline to streamline its widebody operations into just two types; A330-300s (of which it has fifteen) and B777-300(ER)s.

Currently Philippine Airlines uses its A330-300s on medium-haul routes within Asia as well as to Australia, Hawaii, and the Middle East. Its B777s are used on flights to North America including Los Angeles International, San Francisco, Toronto Pearson, and Vancouver International.

As part of its widebody fleet plan, Philippine Airlines will also likely add between four and six new-generation widebody aircraft, either B787-9s or A350-900s, between 2017 and 2018 to help maintain modest growth in the longhaul market.