Philippine Airlines has taken delivery of its first A321, which joins the carrier's fleet of 22 A320 family aircraft, eight A330s, and seven A340-300s.
The A321 is the largest of the A320 series, and offers the lowest seat mile costs of any single aisle aircraft.
PAL has announced that its aircraft will carry a two-class configuration – with 12 business and 187 economy seats – and will be used on regional and selected domestic flights.
John Leahy, Airbus' chief operating officer, customers, said: "The addition of the A321 to the PAL fleet reflects a general move towards larger aircraft types in all the various size categories, including the single aisle market."
The new A321 is one of 64 new Airbus aircraft ordered by PAL in 2012 under a major fleet modernisation effort (see here). Other incoming aircraft include 44 single aisle A321s and 20 widebody A330s.
The carrier is also currently adding four A340-300s to its fleet and hopes to deploy aircraft to Europe in the near future - for the first time in 15 years - after being removed from an EU blacklist (see here).
For more information, visit www.philippineairlines.com.
Clement Huang
