MANILA, Philippines - Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) will resume its flights to Brisbane, Australia starting next month and is offering a special round trip fare for early bookers.

The Lucio Tan-led airline is set to relaunch its Brisbane route on March 17 with thrice-weekly flights from Manila (Manila-Melbourne-Brisbane-Manila).

"The restoration of Brisbane to the network completes our comeback in Australia, following the return of Sydney and Melbourne in recent years," PAL said in a statement released Wednesday.

"It presents an excellent opportunity to build business, trade and tourism links between the Philippines and Queensland. In particular, the new service opens access to visitors from the Philippines to the popular Gold Coast Tourist destination near Brisbane," it added.

PAL said a round trip fare to Brisbane will cost $552 for those who will book flights from February 10 to 15, 2010. This is good for travel between April 5 and August 31, 2010.

The introductory rate includes applicable surcharges but not government taxes and service fees. Tickets may be purchased via PAL's website or ticket offices, or through accredited travel agents.

PAL first flew to Brisbane in 1985 but was forced to shut down its Australian services in 1998 as the Asian financial crisis took toll on the airline's operations.

The airline has ordered new planes for its profitable routes between the Philippines and the US, but the latter's regulatory body has downgraded the Philippines' aviation regulator in 2008. The downgrade resulted in restrictions for PAL to increase its flights to the US.

The new planes have since been planned for deployment for other routes, such as Middle East and Japan, both hosts to Filipinos working overseas. The traffic to and from Australia, on the other hand, is led by tourists, students and overseas workers,