PAL embarks on polar service with nonstop Toronto-Manila flights

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Philippine Airlines (PAL) flew its milestone ultra-long polar flight from Toronto, Canada nonstop to Manila—the first ever crossing of the polar region by a Philippine airline.

PAL flight PR119 took off from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport at 12:53 a.m. local time December 17, arriving in Manila the next day at 6:10 a.m. of December 18 Manila time, after a 16.16-hour journey across the Arctic Region.

The historical flight was led by PAL vice president for flight operations Captain Florendo Jose Aquino III, together with Captain Raymond Casambre, First Officer Paul Domingo and Second Officer Jhonathanne Hizon.

The state-of-the-art 370-seater Boeing 777-300ER flew 7,200 nautical miles, or 13,300 kilometers, and traveled over Canada, Greenland, the Arctic Circle, Russia, Mongolia, and parts of China. The flight was conducted at cruising altitudes ranging from 29,000 to 37,000 feet.

“This was the first non-stop direct flight from Toronto to Manila over the polar region (North Pole). Kudos to the PAL team which made this flight a reality and most importantly, congratulations to our PAL flight deck crew under the leadership of Capt. Chuck (Aquino). You make us proud,” PAL president and COO Jaime J. Bautista said in a statement.

PAL decided to shift to direct nonstop service via the polar route to cut down the total travel time between Toronto and Manila. The carrier used to operate flights between the two points with a stopover in Vancouver, a longer routing that resulted in a combined flying and ground time of 21 hours. This new route cuts travel time by 4.5 hours, savings that PAL said translates to greater convenience for passengers.

From here on, PAL will be operating these nonstop Manila-Toronto and Toronto-Manila flights on a regular four-times-weekly schedule, with departures from Manila every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday;  and departures from Toronto every Monday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.

At present, the long-range B777 fleet flies the polar route. The ultra-long range Airbus A350s will also serve the same route once delivered starting 2018.

The new nonstop Toronto service is the latest time-saving routing enhancement employed by the flag carrier.

In recent months, PAL converted one-stop flights to nonstop flights on routes to Auckland (New Zealand), Kuwait, Jeddah (Saudi  Arabia), and Doha (Qatar), eliminating the respective en route stops in Cairns, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi.

PAL plans to follow up with another polar crossing service on an even longer nonstop route (over 17 hours) from Manila to New York (JFK Airport) and from New York to Manila using the A350 aircraft within the second half of 2018.

 Image courtesy of jeswin at FreeDigitalPhotos.net