Air Philippines acquires six Bombardier Q300

Air Philippines, the budget airline of Lucio Tan's Philippine Airlines (PAL), will be acquiring up to six Bombardier Q300 turbo-prop aircraft amounting to $56 million. The carrier said the new aircrafts will serve its expanded route network, including a new service to Caticlan, gateway to the island of Boracay. Air Philippines has signed a firm order with Toronto-based Bombardier Aerospace for three of the 50-seat airliners and taken options on three more units. The first Q300, scheduled for delivery in November 2007, will start the Manila-Caticlan run of the airline, which is known for its tourist-friendly ultra-low fares. Deliveries of the other two firm orders will be in the first quarter of 2008, while the option aircraft, should Air Philippines exercise its rights, are due after 2008. "The addition of the Q300 to the Air Philippines fleet underpins our route expansion program," Capt. Edilberto Medina, president and chief executive officer of Air Philippines said in a statement. "It enables us to open new routes suited to modern turbo-prop service and allows us to augment our Cebu hub operation, thereby ramping up our overall domestic operations," he added. Air Philippines currently operates eight Boeing 737-200 jet aircraft serving a network of 12 points in the Philippines from hubs in Manila and Cebu. It also operates regular charter flights to points in Korea. - GMANews.TV