Quick narrowbody hop with another one of those overlooked airlines in Southeast Asia, Philippine Airlines. The Philippines’ flag carrier is in fact the oldest airline in Asia, beginning operations in 1941 and currently flying to over 73 destinations (including PAL Express) in Asia, Oceania, the Middle East, and North America with 73 mainline and regional aircraft.
Server: Solo
Airline: Philippine Airlines
Aircraft: Airbus A321-200
Origin: Tân Sơn Nhâ’t International Airport, Tân Sơn, Vietnam (SGN)
Destination: Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Manila, Philippines (MNL)
Flight Number: PR592
Route: VVTS-RPLL
Seat: 23A (Comfort)
Time En Route: 2 Hours 42 Minutes
After spending the night in Ho Chi Minh City, we’re ready to start our long journey back to the United States. Due to Vietnam Airlines’s codeshare with Philippine Airlines, booking the latter to the West Coast via Manila was no trouble at all.
Pushing back from Terminal 2. We’re seated in Comfort class, PAL’s short-haul premium economy equivalent, for the relatively brief (compared to the last couple of flights) flight over to Manila today.
Leaving the apron and turning onto the taxiway ahead of a VietJet A320-200 going to Jakarta as VJ855
Takeoff from Tân Sơn Nhâ’t! The sest we’re in today is pretty dang comfortable, although it’s starting to show its age slightly. Apparently, this jet is due for a refit fairly soon to bring its cabin up to the standard of the A321neo fleet, adding amenities such as touchscreens and wifi.
Climbing out over a tributary of the Saigon River as we make our way to our cruising altitude of 37,000 feet
In cruise over the South China Sea less than 75 minutes out from Manila. We had a nice lunch, although eating was somewhat hard due to the turbulence we’ve been encountering the past 20 minutes or so.
The turbulence has intensified as we descend towards the cirrus layer. The first officer says that it should peter out by the time we’re making our final descent, though, which is nice.
Landing in the early afternoon at MNL. The FO’s pronouncement held true, as our final approach was utterly uneventful and our landing was spot-on, without any unexpected bumps or thumps.
Pulling into our gate as a Cebu Pacific A330-900neo arrives from Taipei as 5J313. Cebu Pacific, the “other” major Philippine Airline, is the second-largest tenant at MNL and directly competes with PAL on a number of routes from here. Have to give them a go sometime to see how they stack up.
Deplaned at MNL’s Terminal 2 before we head over to Terminal 1 for around an 8 and a half-hour layover. Flying with PAL was very good, even on an aircraft with an aging interior, and we’re excited for our transpacific leg with them tonight.