MANILA - Local carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) will take delivery of its first Boeing 777-300 extended range plane in November to boost its long-haul flights.

"We welcome PAL as the next airline to take delivery of B777-300ER in November of this year," Boeing Vice President for Marketing Randy Tinseth told reporters in a briefing on Friday.

The new B777-300ER aircraft is the first of the 6 new planes PAL will add to its existing fleet over the next 4 years. It is one of the 2 planes on a lease agreement, with the other one set to be delivered in January next year.

The 4 other aircraft, meanwhile, are direct purchases and are set to be delivered between 2012 and 2013. The delivery was delayed by 18 months as PAL was prevented from adding flights to the United States due to an aviation industry downgrade by the US Federal Aviation Administration.

Each of the 4 twin-engine planes has a list price of $257 million to $286.5 million, depending on interior configurations. PAL is planning to tap the Export-Import Bank of the United States to finance the acquisition of the 4 planes, which the airline said may be used mainly for trans-Pacific flights.

"We are still finalizing the routes. We are eyeing existing operations," PAL Commercial Group Advisor Richard Miller said.

PAL, meanwhile, did not disclose costs for the 2 aircraft under lease agreements.

Miller said the B777-300ER planes consume less fuel compared to the B747-400 or the Airbus 340-300, allowing PAL to incur less costs. The aircraft will be configured as bi-class, with 42 seats in the Mabuhay Class (business class) and 328 in the Fiesta class (economy class).

To stimulate tourist arrivals from North America, Miller said PAL has already teamed up with the Tourism Department. "It is an opportunity for us to bring more tourists to the country," he said.

Largest aviation market

Meanwhile, Boeing is expecting the Asia Pacific market to invest some $1.1 trillion in new planes over the next 2 decades, making the region the world's largest aviation market by 2028.

"In the 1950's, our forecasts were more on the United States, areas outside the United States, and then the rest of the world. Now Asia Pacific has risen out of that 'rest of the world' segment to become potentially the largest in the aviation market," Boeing Vice President for Marketing Randy Tinseth said.

As the global economy recovers from the crisis, Tinseth said demand for aircraft will be stronger, with a projected 29,000 new plane orders for the next 20 years. Of the total, he said the Asia Pacific region is likely to account for one-third or 8,960 aircraft.

This, he said, will lift Asia's market share of total air travel to 41% from the current 32%.
"Over the next 20 years, air travel in the Asia Pacific will grow by as much as 6.5% per year, and that's larger than the projected world average of 4.9%," Tinseth said.

In the meantime, Tinseth said the aviation industry is set to experience a bottoming out of the crisis this year. "We expect 2010 will be a year of growth, 2011 will be a story of rebound, and by 2012, we are seeing a recovery in demand," he said.