London calling: Pinoy pride soars with Philippine Airlines’ new altitude

Yes, you can say that Philippine Airlines has a new altittude.

Imagine this: We had breakfast in Manila at the NAIA 2 airport past 8 a.m. We arrived in London the same day in time for afternoon tea.

This was the promise made by Philippine Airlines in its ads.And it certainly was no hype.The Manila-London non-stop flight was fulfilled last November 4, the day of its inaugural journey. And yes, it took all of 12 and a half hours.

When PAL’s sparkling new, ultra-modern twin-engine 370-seater Boeing 777-300ER aircraft landed at Heathrow in London, a thunderous applause was followed by the sight of water cannons welcoming us to Britain. It was cold and raining, but in our hearts, we felt a certain warmth and pride. After 15 years, our Pinoy flag carrier made the triumphant return it was aching to achieve.

This was the dream of the non-stopping dynamo Ramon S. Ang, the PAL president who is making great things happen for Philippine Airlines.

“After London, PAL will also be flying to Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Madrid,” Ang says of the westward expansion. It is significant that our European comeback starts in London. The city was among PAL’s pioneer destinations in 1947, when PAL created history as the first airline from Southeast Asia to fly to Europe. Back then, London was the terminus of an epic transcontinental journey that departed Manila once a week and stopped in five countries along the way before it landed in the British capital after 44 hours.

“Today PAL is the only airline that offers this convenient, non-stop flight to London,” Ang continues, “and it will even be shortened by two hours when we get the go-signal to fly the shorter route over Russia.”

PAL also offers the lowest rates. The introductory economy Manila-London-Manila ticket costs only $1,052, all in, inclusive of taxes. The business class round-trip fare is only $2,900. The promo fares are on sale until January 14, 2014, while the travel period is from November 2013 to May 31, 2014. Economy passengers get 20 kilos of free checked-in and seven kilos of hand-carried baggage. Business class travelers can bring 40 kilos of checked-in luggage. The business class seats convert into the most comfortable and spacious lie-flat beds.

Matching PAL’s new altitude are delicious meals created by six topnotch chefs. Renowned Filipino culinary wizard Fernando Aracama heads the list which includes Japanese executive chef Masahiro Mizumoto of Traders Hotel, See Cheong Yan of Enderun Colleges, Suwanna Puangdee of Benjarong Royal Thai Restaurant, Clifton Lyles from the California Cultural Academy and London-trained Filipino-Chinese chef Bruce Lim.

For the Manila-London flight, main course choices included seafood torta with marinated cherry tomato salad and steamed rice; beef tapa with poached egg and garlic fried rice; Peking duck omelette with crab and corn fried rice; asparagus and goat cheese quiche with peppered bacon and rosemary potatoes, plus gourmet tuyo, Spanish sardines in olive oil and Japanese miso soup. That's just for breakfast.

Hot meal selections included beef short ribs pochero with potato cake; manok sa tanglad with kalo-kalo fried rice; tau cheong ginger duck with vegetable fried rice; and grilled cod in lemon brown butter with mashed potatoes.

For appetizers, there were smoked tea prawns with mango avocado salsa, corn soup with scallops with steamed organic red rice; and roasted onion, mini whole wheat batard, green olive ciabatta slices and lavosh with sea salt with butter.

For anytime dining, PAL offered warm beef tenderloin sandwich with grilled onion rings; nuts and chips with salsa; and of course, PAL's signature arroz caldo garnished with salted egg, fried garlic, spring onions and lime, served with caramelized baby anchovies and Chinese pickles.

The sumptuous new offerings of PAL are matched with a nice selection of movies — a mix of the latest hits and great timeless favorites, including the best of Filipino movies which we really enjoyed watching. PAL is the airline that knows its market best. The new route will benefit more than 664,000 Filipino kababayans in Europe, particularly the 250,000 living in the UK.

The fast, non-stop PAL route will certainly attract more tourists from Europe. Ang says: “In the first six months of 2013 alone, we had more than 60,000 arrivals from Britain. This elevated the UK to the Philippines’ top 10 visitor markets for the first time — the only European nation on the list.Our Department of Tourism headed by Secretary Ramon Jimenez predicts a 65 percent increase in European visitors to about 575,000 this year alone. Arrivals will double to around 700,000 in 2014. The new Manila-London-Manila route was the centerpiece during the World Travel Market, London's biggest annual travel event.

PAL has the numbers, the new aircraft, the fastest route, the lowest rates. and a new non-stoppable will of its president to make PAL regain its  glory as Asia's first airline.

We love this new attitude.

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Philippine Airlines flies five times weekly to London. Tickets are available at any PAL ticket office throughout Metro Manila, accredited travel agents, the PAL website (philippineairlines.com) or PAL reservations (02-855-8888).

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