Philippine Airlines committed to order up to 20 Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners at the Farnborough Airshow on July 20, marking its first Boeing order in nearly two decades and its largest widebody commitment ever.
15 Firm 787-10s Plus 5 Options
The deal covers 15 firm 787-10 aircraft with options for five more, adding the stretched Dreamliner variant to a PAL widebody fleet that currently leans on 10 Boeing 777s. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2031, giving Manila-based PAL a modernised long-haul backbone as it builds up its trans-Pacific and European networks after a 2021 Chapter 11 restructuring.
An 80-Year Partnership, Reset
Founded in 1941, PAL is Asia's oldest commercial airline and this year celebrates 80 years of doing business with Boeing. "This investment manifests our confidence in the future of Philippine Airlines and the continued growth of air travel," said Lucio C. Tan III, president and COO of PAL Holdings. Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief Stephanie Pope framed the deal as a signal that PAL "deepens connections across the Philippines, Asia and beyond."
787-10 Economics
As the biggest 787 variant, the 787-10 can carry 300 to 375 passengers up to 13,890 km (7,500 nautical miles) and has around 25% lower fuel burn than the airliners it typically replaces. That range and unit-cost story is what Boeing has been pitching to Asian carriers modernising ageing widebody fleets - and it now pairs PAL's recent Airbus-heavy tilt with a renewed Boeing bet.
The commitment is one of a string of Farnborough deals landed on day one, alongside BOC Aviation's 300-engine CFM order, Boeing's SMBC narrow-body split with Airbus, and Honeywell's 810-aircraft IndiGo mandate.
Reporting based on coverage from Boeing MediaRoom, Bloomberg, One Mile at a Time and Simple Flying.