Philippine Air links to India, inks pact with Kingfisher

Aiming to attract more Indians to that country, Philippines Airlines on Wednesday launched its first direct flight from India.

Philippine Airlines (PAL) has entered into a code share agreement with Kingfisher Airlines, India’s second largest domestic carrier, that would give it a much bigger footprint in the country.

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“We have already made an agreement with Kingfisher,” said Vivienne K Tan, executive vice president, PAL, on Wednesday.

PAL has launched direct flights to India — the only carrier to operate non-stop flights between Delhi and Manila. It will operate three non-stop flights to Delhi and another three via Bangkok. “We are offering the shortest travel time of six-and-a-half hours,” said Jaime J Bautista, president and COO, PAL.

In 2009, two million Indians travelled to Southeast Asia but only 32,817 visited the Philippines, with Singapore (726,000), Thailand (611,983) and Malaysia (589,838) cornering a major chunk of the tourist traffic. PAL is allocating 1,88,000 seats a year on the Indian route.

Tan said PAL would be “interested in investing in an Indian carrier” if the government relaxes rules allowing foreign carriers to invest in Indian airlines.