Philippine Airlines said Friday it will reopen more direct flights to China as part of its gradual restoration of international services.
The country’s flag carrier said it would reopen direct flights between Manila and Guangzhou (Canton), the mega-port city and gateway to China’s Pearl River Delta Economic Zone in the industrial heartland of Guangdong province.
It said that from Jan. 14, 2023, it would operate an initial weekly flight every Saturday to Guangzhou’s Baiyun International Airport.
“We are gearing up for the resumption of regular passenger flights to Mainland China—helping pave the way for the full restoration of our pre-pandemic flight frequencies,” PAL vice president for network planning Christoph Gaertner said.
“By adding Guangzhou to our roster of operated flights, we are connecting to the world’s second largest economy and enhancing friendly ties between China and the Philippines,” he said.
PAL said for the Guangzhou route, it would deploy Airbus A330-300 (capacity: 309 to 363 seats) and Airbus A321ceo aircraft (capacity: 199 seats).
PAL said it resumed flying between Manila and Xiamen on Jan. 13, initially with one flight a week.
The airline said for its calibrated step-by-step resumption of flights to the Chinese mainland, it was working closely with Chinese and Philippine health and aviation authorities to ensure the highest level of health safety protections for travelers.
“We uphold the highest standards of safety in all our flights. Aircraft surfaces are disinfected before and after every journey and high efficiency particulate air filters cleanse the cabin air of bacteria and viruses with 99.99-percent efficacy,” said Gaertner.
“As always, our passengers will need to comply with any arrival testing protocols implemented by the Philippine and Chinese governments,” he said.
Prior to the pandemic, the flag carrier served the mainland Chinese cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Quanzhou (Jinjiang) and Xiamen for a total of 34 weekly flights.
PAL operated regular and ad hoc all-cargo and charter flights to mainland China, including passenger charters to Tianjin and vaccine transport flights, from March 2020 to January this year.