PAL revives nonstop Cebu-LA flights in May

Philippine Airlines (PAL) will reintroduce a nonstop Cebu-Los Angeles service in May 2020, restoring the only direct air link between the Visayas and mainland USA.

The new service will increase PAL’s network offering to a total of 64 flights weekly to the USA, Canada, and Guam. The flag carrier previously operated Cebu-Los Angeles flights from March 2016 up to May 2017.

PAL’s Cebu-Los Angeles flights will depart three times weekly for Los Angeles from the new Terminal 2 of the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA), utilizing PAL’s largest aircraft, the 370-seater Boeing 777-300ER.

Starting May 2, 2020, PAL Flight PR152 will depart Cebu at 9 p.m. every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and arrive in Los Angeles at 7:30 p.m. on the same days. For the Los Angeles International Airport-MCIA journey, PR 153 will leave Los Angeles at 11 p.m. every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, touching down two days later in Cebu at 5 a.m. after a 14-hour nonstop flight.

The latest-version PAL B777 features a fully flat bed in business class, with an 18.4-inch TV screen, retractable privacy dividers, an ottoman which doubles as a storage area, and in-seat power and USB ports. The economy class features a seat pitch of up to 34 inches, and each seat is equipped with 11-inch TV screens and USB ports.

“We look forward to treating our customers to the fastest flights between the US Mainland and the Visayas/Mindanao region, via PAL’s new Cebu-LAX route,” PAL president and chief operating officer Gilbert Santa Maria said in a statement.

“Our upcoming service from Cebu to LA is a vivid demonstration of our commitment to build up Mactan Cebu as a global aviation hub, a dynamic gateway, not only to domestic points, but to major international destinations,” Santa Maria added.

Los Angeles and the USA now join Tokyo, Osaka, Bangkok, Nagoya and Seoul on the list of PAL overseas destinations served from Cebu.

As part of PAL’s 2020 New Year Sale, the airline is offering promo fares for flights between Cebu and Los Angeles for as low as $420 (base rate) exclusive of government taxes. Booking period for this special offering is from January 20 until January 24. Travel period is from July 1 to December 10, 2020.

PAL is currently the largest airline operator in the Philippines-North America market, featuring all-nonstop flights to and from Los Angeles and San Francisco in the US West Coast, New York (JFK Airport) in the US East Coast, Honolulu in Hawaii and both Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.

PAL recently announced the upcoming inauguration of several international routes, including the first ever nonstop flights between Manila and Perth (starting March 30);  Zamboanga and Kota Kinabalu (from March 29); and Davao and Manado (from March 29).