PHILIPPINES: Philippine Airlines To Fly To Kuala Lumpur After Three Years

Philippine Airlines (PAL) resumed daily service to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on June 8, 2017 after three years.

With investment opportunities in Malaysia's service and manufacturing sectors, the PAL route will provide direct access to new business opportunities. Close to 800,000 Overseas Filipino Workers are employed in Malaysia.

The resumption of PAL flights between Manila and Kuala Lumpur will help foster economic and cultural ties between the Philippines and Malaysia. Most importantly, it addresses the clamor for a direct service between the two capital cities, said PAL President and COO Jaime J. Bautista.

Through PAL flights and code-share partners, we can carry passenger traffic from Kuala Lumpur to China, Japan, South Pacific and North America and thus enhance our ASEAN network, he added.

As the airport operator, we are always committed towards building a strong relationship with our partner airlines to support its growth, not only in Malaysia but globally. Our mission here at Malaysia Airports is to create joyful experiences for all our stakeholders.

Therefore, we will ensure that Philippines Airlines operations will receive Malaysia Airports’ fullest support for any airport facilities and services needed at the terminal, shared Malaysia Airports Senior General Manager Zainol Mohd Isa.

The decision to return to Kuala Lumpur comes after PAL and Malaysia Airlines expanded their code-share arrangement. The enhancements include code-sharing on 12 domestic Malaysian destinations and nine domestic Philippine destinations.

The points are:

Malaysia - Alor Setar, Johor Bahru, Kota Bharu, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Terengganu, Kuching, Labuan (Sabah), Langkawi, Miri (Sarawak), Penang, Sibu (Sarawak), Tawau (Sabah).

Philippines - Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, General Santos, Iloilo, Kalibo, Puerto Princesa, Caticlan.

Passengers may book on Business Class or Economy Class to any of these destinations. Lounge access is also available to Business Class passengers.

Current frequent flyer baggage benefits of Mabuhay Miles and Enrich members are also extended.

Code-share passengers traveling between terminals in Manila can avail of PAL's free transfer services.

Passengers can choose from any of the daily Manila-Kuala Lumpur flight timings.

PR 525 departs Manila every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 7:25 AM and arrives in Kuala Lumpur at 11:00 AM local time; the return flight – PR526 – leaves Kuala Lumpur on the same days at 12:10 PM local time, and touches down in Manila at 3:50 PM.

PR 527 leaves Manila on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 11:30 AM and arrives in Kuala Lumpur at 3:00 PM local time; the return service – PR528 – departs Kuala Lumpur on the same days at 4:00 PM local time and touches down in Manila at 7:30 PM.

PAL is deploying the Airbus A321 on the route. The 199-seater aircraft has 12 seats in business class, 18 in premium economy and 169 in regular economy.

Wireless inflight entertainment can be enjoyed while flying onboard the A321 by downloading the myPAL Player app for free. This will allow passengers to stream movies, TV shows and music from their personal electronic devices. Passengers also have meal options - Asian, Western or Halal meals. Generous free baggage allowance form part of the flight offerings.

The PAL service enables travelers from KL to enjoy Manila for several days and connect to any of PAL's 28 domestic and 42 international destinations.

MALAYSIA: Top Destinations For Foreigners And Malaysians

Kuala Lumpur is still tops when it comes to tourists to Malaysia. Other local destinations that are also popular among inbound holidaymakers are Penang, Langkawi, Kota Kinabalu and Malacca. Johor Baru, Kuching, Cameron Highlands, Genting Highlands and Ipoh round off the Top 10.

This were the findings of the online accommodation booking website Hotels.com Hotel Price Index (HPI). The report is published twice a year and is based on bookings made on Hotels.com sites, and prices shown are those actually paid by customers on a per room/per night basis including taxes and fees, rather than advertised rates. Local travel trends and insights are also extrapolated from the report.

Overall, travellers were paying an average of RM306 per night for hotels in Malaysia in the first half of 2015. Among all travellers from Switzerland were spending the most (RM 425) on average hotel price paid in Malaysia, followed by Norway (RM402), United Kingdom (RM391), and two Asian countries – Hong Kong (RM381) and South Korea (RM378).

“We believe that the recent softening of the ringgit clearly has an impact on local destinations. Subsequently, Malaysians are also noticeably getting back to their roots when it comes to planning vacations,” said Hotels.com senior marketing director Asia Pacific Nelson Allen.

It is also surprising that according to the trends seen for hotel searches for next year by Malaysians for local destinations, the fourth most searched destination is Port Dickson! It registered three-digit figures in percentage growth.

The softening of the ringgit doesn’t necessarily mean a higher cost of travel. The HPI also revealed that there was a steady drop in hotels prices paid by Malaysians in the United Arab Emirates (36%), France (21%), Macau (12%), as well as Malaysians’ all time favourite – Thailand (7%), Indonesia (12%), Singapore (18%), and Hong Kong (4%). This could be attributed to more Malaysians using online and mobile applications for their travel planning.

Top destinations for Malaysian travellers

1. Bangkok
2. Singapore
3. Bali
4. Hong Kong
5. Phuket
6. Melbourne
7. Krabi
8. Seoul
9. Tokyo
10. Taipei

MALAYSIA: Malaysia Welcomes Luxury Cruise Ship

Mein Schiff 1, a Century class cruise ship made her maiden call to Boustead Cruise Centre (BCC), Pulau Indah recently

The vessel, which sailed from Langkawi arrived with a total of 1,870 passengers and 909 crew members on Nov 23. They received a warm welcome reception from Tourism Malaysia with bunga telur and a cultural performance.

As part of the cruise ship’s 22-night voyage from Dubai to Singapore, she had earlier made a stopover at Muscat, Oman; followed by Mumbai, India; and Colombo, Sri Lanka. The vessel left Klang on the same evening for Singapore.

The welcome reception by Tourism Malaysia is an effort under its Maiden Call programme, an annual activity to welcome ships berthing for the first time in Malaysia. It is part of Tourism Malaysia’s efforts to promote cruise tourism and to attract more ship operators to berth in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, in particular.

Over the last few years, Malaysia has seen an encouraging number of cruise ships calling at the country’s ports. Last year, a total of 421 international cruise ships with 352,322 passengers called at the country’s six primary ports, namely Port Klang, Penang, Melaka, Langkawi, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching.