Transformation from world-class to five-star airline characterized the year 2017 for Philippine Airlines. The flag carrier shifted to high gear on initiatives to raise its rating by airline/airport rating company Skytrax to four stars in 2018, and eventually to five stars by 2020. The goal is not a quick fix, but a multi-year top-to-bottom re-invention of the airline. Singular focus is the passenger – an unceasing effort to extend total passenger care at every customer touch-point, while managing expectations every step of the journey. PAL maintained its three-pronged strategy of fleet upgrades, route expansion and service innovation to achieve the goal. New planes, new routes Seven airplanes were delivered in 2017 – five Bombardier Q400 turboprops for inter-island flights and two Boeing 777- 300ERs for long-haul routes. On June 13, the first of eight reconfigured, tri-class Airbus A330s was unveiled, featuring one of the most luxurious cabins in the sky. This A330 first flew to Honolulu, followed by Sydney, Melbourne, Tokyo Haneda and other routes. From July to November, five dual-class, 86-seater Q400 were delivered. Its first commercial flight was Cebu- Caticlan in August. Meanwhile, on December 15, a PAL 777 made the first trans-polar flight for a Philippine carrier – a 16.5-hour, non-stop Toronto-Manila flight – preceded by the upgrade of several routes from one-stop to non-stop in 2017: Manila- Doha, Manila-Auckland, Manila-Kuwait and Manila-Jeddah. PAL’s complete fleet of ten 777s now flies to North America and London. Additional airplanes enabled PAL to open new routes out of Cebu, Davao and Clark. On January 2, PAL operated its first international flight to Clark with the arrival of an A321 from Seoul. Other new routes include Seoul-Tagbilaran, Chengdu-Kalibo, Chengdu-Cebu, Manila-Kuala Lumpur, Cebu-Beijing and Cebu-Bangkok. From having no Clark service in 2016, PAL vaulted to become...... Read more on Full Issue!