Seventy-six years ago today, Philippine Airlines, otherwise known as Philippine Air Lines during that time, flew its very first transpacific flight. This historical flight on July 31, 1946, from Manila to Oakland gave birth to PAL’s one of the most profitable international routes, the Manila – United States mainland direct flights.
Today, PAL continues to operate non-stop flights between the Philippines and United States mainland utilizing aircraft like the Boeing 777-300ER and the Airbus A350-900. From Manila, you can now fly non-stop directly to Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Vancouver, and Toronto. However, this would not be possible if not for that very first Manila to Oakland flight 76 years ago utilizing a Douglas DC-4.
The very transpacific flight from Manila to the United States
It was on July 31, 1946, when this historical flight commenced. PAL flew a chartered Douglas DC-4 from Manila to Oakland to ferry home 40 US servicemen. The lone flight attendant for this flight was Ms. Rebecca Versoza – Santos, the very first cabin crew of PAL. This Philippine Airlines transpacific flight took a total of 41 hours. This included refueling stops at Guam, Wake Island, Kwajalein, and Honolulu.
Ms. Rebecca, being the lone flight attendant, had to prepare the meals for these US servicemen all by herself.
While this flight was historic for the Philippines, it was not much for the Americans. A treaty between the Philippines and the United States was signed on November 14, 1946. This treaty however was more in favor of the Americans. It limited the Philippines to only one route across the Pacific while the Americans were allowed two.
Despite it being somewhat lopsided, it marked also the Philippine government’s appointment of PAL as the Philippines’ flag carrier.
PAL then began operating flights to San Francisco in December 1946.
Expansion of PAL’s international operations
Not only did this historic flight signal the beginning of PAL’s regular flights to the United States, but also the start of more international services. On May 3, 1947, PAL began flights to Rome and Madrid using the same Douglas DC-4 aircraft. This also made PAL the first Southeast Asian Airline to fly to Europe with stops at Calcutta, Karachi, and Cairo. Each flight lasted around 2-days.
PAL’s international services continued to expand, with a route network covering three-fourths of the globe. The airline had flights from the Philippines to Asia, America, Europe, and the Middle East. During that time, PAL was among the world’s top ten airlines in terms of unduplicated mileage.
PAL’s bread and butter
It is a fact that the “bread and butter” of Philippine Airlines are its transpacific flights, offering direct linkages from the Philippines to the United States. Today, PAL offers daily flights from Manila to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. It also flies to Vancouver and Toronto in Canada. These direct flights have been very profitable for PAL, carrying the biggest market share for flights between the Philippines and the United States.
PAL continues to relive the spirit of that historic Pacific crossing utilizing Boeing 777-300ER and Airbus A350-900 jets. From 40 passengers to more than 290 passengers per flight, Philippine Airlines transpacific flights have indeed come a long way, and they continue to dominate the Philippines – United States route.
All of that would not have been possible if not of that Philippine Airlines very first transpacific flight in July 31, 1946.
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