Philippine Airlines said Thursday it is keen to acquire the latest Airbus 350-1000 aircraft for its long-haul operations.
“ It’s a bigger version of the A350-900. If we take delivery of this [A350-1000], the engine is the same. A little bit bigger but there is commonality, like the spare parts. So, in terms of pilot training, cabin crew training, it’s the same,” PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista told reporters at the sidelines of the A350-1000 test flight in Manila.
The list price of A350-1000 is $366.5 million, according to Airbus.
“I’m sure Airbus will be happy if we convert those to 350-1000,” Bautista said, when asked if PAL plans to convert its option to acquire six A350-900s to A350-1000s.
PAL earlier acquired six A350-900 at at list price of $317.4 million each.
Bautista said the first A350-900s would start arriving in June, allowing PAL to deploy non-stop flights to the US East Coast through the Polar region, along with more routes to European cities.
“We expect the second delivery of A350 in August, September and December and the remaining two in 2019,” he said.