Philippine Airlines to convert A330s in three-class layout

Philippine Airlines has announced it will be reconfiguring its Airbus A330-300 aircrafts fleet. The aircrafts which currently have 414 seats are going to be further trimmed. The reconfiguring exercise will be undertaken over a seven-month period.

Media reports said that the airline will be converting the cabin layout of eight Airbus A330-300 aircrafts into a three-class set-up. Each of these aircrafts will now have a total of 309 seats instead of the current 414 seats. The three travel classes will include Business Class, Economy Class and Premium Economy.

According to the reports, the reconfiguring of the aircrafts will be done as follows. For conducting flights to Honolulu, the reconfiguring plan will be implemented in June 2017. For flights to Melbourne, the reconfiguration will start in July this year. Similarly, for flights to Sydney, Singapore, Tokyo Haneda, Tokyo Narita and Osaka, the reconfiguring will start in the months of August, September, October, November and December respectively this year.

Jaime J. Bautista, President and Chief Operating Officer of Philippine Airlines, said, “Each Airbus A330-300 aircraft will have a total of 18 Business Class seats installed. For this, the company has chosen Thompson Vantage XL product. The Premium Economy cabin will have 24 seats from Zodiac 5810. The Economy Class will also have Zodiac’s product for its 267 seats.”

The customers traveling in Business Class will be offered fully-flat seats with each one providing direct aisle access. Among other prominent features in Business Class include coat hook, footrest, calfrest, legrest, in-seat power sockets and USB ports. Most of these features would also be provided in Premium Economy cabins as well. However, the passengers booking flight tickets for travel in Economy Class will either have access to a power socket or a USB port. The airline is also going to equip these refurbished aircrafts with the embedded state-of-the-art RAVE in-flight entertainment system. The Business Class will have 18.5 inch screen, while the Premium Economy will have 13.3 inch screen.