Philippine Airlines' (PAL) plans for a major expansion of US services have been thrown into disarray after the Federal Aviation Administration downgraded the Philippines' aviation safety rating.
The downgrade from Category 1 to Category 2 under the International Aviation Safety Assessment programme means the FAA found the Philippines does not meet International Civil Aviation Organisation standards in its aviation safety oversight.
It means PAL, which is the only Philippine carrier serving the USA, will not be able to increase services to the country or change aircraft type - unless it wet-leases aircraft from a country with a Category 1 rating. PAL did this in the mid 1990s when the Philippines was last given a Category 2 rating and it complained bitterly at the time about the high cost burden.
PAL, which only recently exited receivership after nearly 10 years of protection from creditors, says it will seek to maintain its existing US operations but it is concerned about "the negative effect of Category 2 to PAL's plans to open service to San Diego, Chicago, New York and Saipan".
PAL currently serves Guam, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco in the USA with 33 weekly flights that are operated with Boeing 747-400s, Airbus A320s, Airbus A330-300s and Airbus A340-300s.
It has six Boeing 777-300ERs on lease and purchase order for delivery from late 2009 which it wants to use for expanded US services, both to existing as well as to new points.
Source: Flight International
