In 1980, Philippine Airlines operated flights to several European destinations, such as Amsterdam, Athens, Frankfurt, London–Gatwick and Rome–Fiumicino. Following the 1997 Asian financial crisis, PAL terminated a number of its long-haul routes. In 1998, Cathay Pacific temporarily operated some of PAL's international services for a 14-day period during the latter's operational shutdown.
In 2010, the European Union (EU) imposed a ban on all Philippine-based carriers, citing regulatory concerns, despite favorable safety assessments from the International Civil Aviation Organization. The ban was lifted in 2013, allowing Philippine Airlines to resume European operations. That same year, PAL relaunched flights to London–Heathrow in 2013 using a Boeing 777-300ER. On October 29, 2018, the airline inaugurated non-stop service to New York–JFK with an Airbus A350-900, marking one of the longest commercial flights in the world at the time.
As of 2025, Philippine Airlines operates 41 international and 32 domestic routes. Its regional subsidiary, PAL Express, handles the majority of the airline's domestic operations.
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Interline agreements
Philippine Airlines interlines with the following airlines:
Branding
Logo
The Philippine Airlines logo changed several times since the company's founding. Its first logo incorporated a blue oval with "PAL" superimposed in white letters, a four-pointed star with points intersecting behind the "A" in PAL, and a wing whose orientation varied depending on the location of the logo. The wing pointed to the right if located on the left side of the plane, and to the left if on the right side. A variant of this logo featured a globe instead of the blue oval with the superimposed PAL initials. It was used from the 1950s through the mid-1960s.
In the late 60's, the company adopted a blue triangle with the bottom point missing and a red triangle superimposed upon it, enclosed by a circle. This was meant to evoke a vertically displayed national flag with white forming by the negative space between the two triangles. In 1970, the logo adopted a new typeface, Futura, and remained the official PAL logo until 1986.
The current PAL logo features the same two blue and red sail triangles used in the second and third logos. An eight-rayed yellow sunburst was superimposed on top of the blue triangle, and a new Helvetica typeface was used.
Livery
PAL liveries have undergone many incarnations. The first PAL aircraft bore a simple white-top, silver-bottom livery separated by solid straight cheatlines, with a small Philippine flag superimposed on the tail. The name "Philippine Air Lines" was superimposed on the upper forward portion of the fuselage and the PAL logo was located at the back. Later variants of the livery, especially on PAL jet aircraft, made use of an extended Philippine flag as cheatlines, with the PAL logo superimposed on the tail. By this time, the name "Philippine Airlines" was used in the livery.
Another variant of the original livery used by PAL is somewhat similar to the current livery. However, it uses PAL's third logo on the tail with blue, white, and red cheatlines running the center of the fuselage. Later on, the bottom half of the fuselage was also painted white.
The current "Eurowhite" livery, first used with the Short 360, was adopted in 1986 following PAL's corporate rebranding. This livery, (designed by Landor Associates) has "Philippines" superimposed on the forward portion of the fuselage in italics (using the PAL logo typeface), while the tail is painted with the logo and the Philippine flag is visible near the rear of the aircraft. The PAL logo is also painted on the winglets of aircraft that have them. The name "Philippines", instead of "Philippine Airlines", is to denote that PAL is the primary flag carrier of the Philippines. However, this sometimes leads to confusion that a PAL plane, especially when chartered by the President for official or state visits, is, in fact, the official air transport of the Philippine head of state. Any PAL aircraft with the flight number "PR/PAL 001" and the callsign "PHILIPPINE ONE" is a special plane operated by Philippine Airlines to transport the President or Vice President of the Philippines. The flight number "PR/PAL 002" and the callsign "PHILIPPINE TWO" are used if the Vice President travels simultaneously with the President. As such, the presidential seals are patched on or near the L1 and R1 doors of any PAL aircraft chartered by the president.
For the airline's 70th anniversary in 2011, a special decal was placed on all of its aircraft. The sticker featured a stylized "70" and the words, "Asia's first, shining through". For its 75th anniversary in 2016, a special decal was put on the back of every aircraft. The sticker features a stylized "75". PAL also placed a 4-star Skytrax sticker on its aircraft to celebrate its new rating. For the airline's 85th anniversary in 2026, first seen on RP-C3510, the airline's first Airbus A350-1000, a stylized 85 appears at the rear half of the fuselage.
In February 2019, Philippine Airlines rolled out its fifth Airbus A350 aircraft with a LoveBus decal that represents the 40th anniversary of its partnership with Airbus and to celebrate the airline's signature heartfelt service. The kiss-marked LoveBus logo was also placed in 1979 on one of PAL's Airbus A300s that represented their first year of partnership with Airbus. Its LoveBus A350 was rolled out from the paint shop and was accepted on February 14, 2019, Valentine's Day. PAL took delivery of it three days later, and held a welcoming ceremony at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2.
In-flight services
Cabin
Philippine Airlines currently offers three classes of service: business, premium economy, and economy, depending on the aircraft. Airbus A321s (on domestic routes), reconfigured Airbus A330s, and Airbus A350s offer three classes, while its other aircraft offer two classes. On September 15, 2022, the airline rebranded its premium economy service to Comfort Class for its domestic flights.
On January 23, 2017, PAL announced a new cabin layout designed in collaboration with LIFT Strategic Design, with major upgrades to its existing business class and economy seats, alongside a new premium economy class. This new design was rolled out through the reconfiguration of eight of its A330s from a single class 414-seater into a 309-seater tri-class layout within seven months by Lufthansa Technik Philippines. The first A330 with the new layout was introduced to service on June 15, 2017, on the route between Manila and Honolulu. This design would become the foundation for PAL's aircraft cabins in the Airbus A321neos and A350s.
For older aircraft without embedded IFE displays on their seats, the airline offered rentable (in economy) or complementary (in business class) iPad Minis with OnAir's wireless IFE solution, OnAir Play, while also allowing passengers to stream content to their own devices. New and reconfigured aircraft have personal IFE screens alongside wireless IFE, a decision attributed to the failure of PAL's wireless IFE program for long-haul flights. The airline uses the Panasonic eX2 system for its Boeing 777s, and the Zodiac Aerospace (now Safran) RAVE system for its more recent aircraft.
Business class
Business class is available on all aircraft. It offers increased legroom and lie-flat seats on the Airbus A330, Boeing 777, Airbus A350, and select Airbus A321neo aircraft. Philippine Airlines is the only Philippine carrier to offer business class on domestic flights. On medium-haul and long-haul flights, Philippine Airlines provides amenity kits from L'Occitane en Provence.
Seats on early Boeing 777s feature angled-flat seats manufactured by Recaro, while some of the latest aircraft feature lie-flat seats by Zodiac Aerospace, arranged in a 2-3-2 configuration. Older A330s featured lie-flat seats manufactured by Sogerma in a 2–2–2 configuration. Reconfigured A330s and A350-900s feature lie-flat seats manufactured by Thompson Aero Seating, in a seating configuration of 1–2–1. A350-1000 aircraft feature lie-flat seats called "Mabuhay Studios" manufactured by Collins Aerospace with sliding privacy doors in a 1–2–1 reverse herringbone seating configuration; each seat measures 44 inches (110 cm) in pitch and 20.25 inches (51.4 cm) in width. Long-range variants of A321neos feature lie-flat seats manufactured by Rockwell Collins (now Collins Aerospace), arranged in a 2-2 layout. They have a 60-inch seat pitch and a maximum seat width of 23 inches when fully flat. Business class seats on standard A321neos and A321ceos recline and have a seat pitch of 39 inches (99 cm).
Seats feature 13.3-inch (reconfigured A321ceo), 15.4-inch (A321neo), 15-inch (Boeing 777), 18.5-inch (reconfigured A330 and A350-900), and 20-inch (A350-1000) personal IFE monitors with video on demand, as well as in-seat power. The seats feature a USB port where passengers can charge mobile devices. Passengers are also given noise-cancelling headphones. A350-900 and A330 business class seats also feature Lantal air cushions, a four-way headrest, a storage shelf for personal belongings, a headphone hook, and a padded inner shell that absorbs noise.
Premium economy
Premium economy is available on the Airbus A330 and Airbus A350; it is also available on all narrowbody aircraft used by the airline for domestic routes, where it is known as Comfort Class. The seats are similar in design to standard economy class seats but feature at least four to five inches of additional legroom, providing a minimum legroom of 34 to 36 inches.
Reconfigured A330s, as well as A350s, have a different seat design with a layer of extra padding. It is 9.55" wide, pitched at 38 inches with eight inches of recline. The seats also feature a 13.3-inch screen-flight entertainment unit with video on demand, a headphone jack, a USB port, and in-seat power. On aircraft without IFE, passengers are also treated to complimentary iPads.
Economy class
Economy class is available on all aircraft. Tray tables are found in the back of the seat in front, except for bulkhead and exit seats, where tray tables are embedded in the seats. The seats offer a pitch that varies between 31 and 34 inches. Each seat offers video on demand and is equipped with 9-inch (Boeing 777), 10-inch (A321neo and reconfigured A330 and A321ceo), 11.6-inch (A350-900), or 13.3-inch (A350-1000) monitors with a headphone jack and USB port for charging. They have four-way headrests and six inches of recline. An articulating seat bottom cushion comes with extra foam under the seat cover.
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