PAL drops Cairns stopover, wine tourism guide and more

PAL to fly non-stop Manila-Auckland
Philippine Airlines (PAL) will drop its Cairns stopover and fly nonstop from Manila to Auckland on December 6. This will reduce the travel time to 10 hours from 12 and a quarter hours. The overnight service operates three times a week, departing Manila every Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday at 11:15 pm and arriving in Auckland at 2:05pm local time the following day. It returns at 12:30 am local time on Friday, Saturday and Tuesday, touching down in Manila at 5:45 am. PAL says it will boost capacity by 60% using widebodied 254-seater Airbus A340s instead of 156-seater A320s.

Passengers booked between Manila and Cairns after December will be rerouted through other Australian airports while transtasman bookings between Auckland and Cairns will be endorsed to other airlines, PAL says. Scott Tasker, Auckland Airport’s general manager aeronautical commercial, says the extra capacity will add more than 14,000 seats to the route and inject $13.6 million annually into the New Zealand economy.

The larger aircraft will also allow for an additional 14 tonnes of cargo capacity per flight. Nearly 30,000 New Zealanders travelled to the Philippines last year and more than 40,000 Filipinos live in New Zealand.

AA make further cutback
American Airlines has further cut its Los Angeles-Auckland service that is in seasonal suspension. It has announced the flights that resume on October 6 (ex Los Angeles) will end on March 25, much earlier than this year’s suspension that began on August 7. One compensation is that the resumed service will use a large Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. Travel industry sources say the move will remove competition from the route for the biggest part of a year. Return fares on the route have recently sold for as little as $749.  

Tourists' guide to wineries
New Zealand Winegrowers has launched a comprehensive online guide for wine tourists. It has some 450 entries covering 230 cellar doors, 110 winery dining options, 60 vineyard accommodation outlets and 50 onsite tours or other attractions. NZ Winegrowers is working with Tourism New Zealand on further developments. “Our research has found that wine visitors spend more, stay longer, and visit more regions than the average international holidaymaker.” TNZ chief executive Stephen England-Hall says. 

Emirates' first class wines
Emirates is restoring the revered 2005 Chateau d'Yquem dessert wine from Bordeaux to its first class menu on routes to Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Other premium wines to join the Emirates list over coming months are the 1963 Graham’s Colheita Port, Dom Pérignon 2005 Rosé, Dom Pérignon 2009 Vintage and Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage 2008. These will be available on selective routes and in lounges.

Qatar launches fourth Thai service
Qatar Airways is launching a four-times weekly seasonal service to Chiang Mai (above) in Thailand’s “golden triangle.” This will be Qatar’s fourth destination in Thailand after Bangkok, Phuket and Krabi. The Doha-Chiang Mai service will operate from December 2017 until May 2018, using a wide-body aircraft.

Qantas offers hotel deals for Kiwis
Qantas Frequent Flyer members in New Zealand can now use their Qantas Points on exclusive discounts at up to 144,000 hotels around the world through Classic Hotel Rewards. Rooms start from 5000 points per night. There are deals with international hotel chains such as Accor, Marriott. Hyatt and Shangri La. Bookings can be made on qantas.com/hotels by selecting the “Pay with points” option and check availability using the Classic Reward ribbon icon.

Aeroflot adds more A320s
Russia’s largest airline, Aeroflot, took delivery of its sixth Airbus A321 under a 12-year deal with Polish-Chinese joint venture AviaAM Financial Leasing China. Aeroflot is taking a total of eight Airbus aircraft under the deal, which boosts the total fleet to almost 300. Aeroflot has more than 130 international routes in 50 countries.

Brisbane gets Singapore’s A350-900
Singapore Airlines will start Airbus A350-900 services to Brisbane on October 15, which will replace A330-300s. Over the following three months, three of the four daily flights will move up to the A350-900.