PAL broadening US routes, sets sights on Chicago, Houston

SEATTLE – Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) has listed Chicago and Houston as two other possible destinations it may soon reach in the US.

In an interview with reporters here, PAL vice president for sales Bud Britanico said the airline is determined to recover its market share for Philippine flights to North America.

PAL is looking at a list of US destinations it could add to its flight network once it receives its order for nine widebodies in the make of Airbus A350-1000s.

Britanico said these potential routes include Illinois and Texas, both of which shelter hundreds of thousands of Filipinos. Latest available census showed that a combined 360,000 Filipinos live in these states, of which 200,000 are in Texas and 160,000 are in Illinois.

Moreover, PAL has kept its doors open for Nevada, which is home to roughly 170,000 Filipinos mostly working for casinos in Las Vegas. The airline used to operate flights to the Sin City, until it scapped the route in 2012 as part of network rearrangement.

If PAL were to land in these states, it intends to do so via Chicago for Illinois, Houston for Texas and Las Vegas for Nevada, although Britanico made it clear that further studies and new aircraft are needed to mount expansion flights.

“These cities [such as Las Vegas] are always on top of the list also, and so do the other unserved big markets for us like Houston and Chicago,” Britanico said.

PAL is trying to recover its market dominance for transpacific flights from the Philippines, as it faces new rivals such as United Airlines, which has been mounting direct trips to the US since 2023.

PAL’s market share for Philippine flights to the US and Canada fell to 47 percent last year, from 65 percent in 2022, but the airline is working on recovering its former shape. One of the ways to reassert market dominance is to increase flight capacity and route options to entice travelers with more flexibility.

The airline has taken the first step to retrieving its market share in North America by mounting Manila flights to Seattle, marking the only non-stop service from the Philippines to the American Midwest. The flight started operating this month and is bringing in positive numbers for PAL.

So far, PAL is turning in a load factor of 80 to 90 percent for its Seattle flights, meaning at least four in five seats are being booked for every schedule.

On top of leisure travel, PAL wants to build up business ties between the Philippines and the US through its Seattle connection, given that the city headquarters some of the largest multinationals including Amazon, Boeing, Microsoft and Starbucks.