Philippine Airlines will begin operating flights from Manila to Cairns, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand from December 1, 2015.

From the end of the year, PAL will operate four weekly flights to serve the Manila-Cairns Auckland route on a 156-seat Airbus A320. The flights will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

“The route will simulate passenger traffic along three travel streams – Manila and Cairns, Manila and Auckland as well as Cairns and Auckland,” said PAL president and COO, Jaime J. Bautista. “With close to 40,000 Filipinos residing in New Zealand, the new service is their convenient link to their home country. Upon arrival in Manila, passengers may enjoy the capital city for a few days then connect to any of the 67 other destinations (30 domestic and 37 international) in the PAL network. In the long term, the service will drive traffic between southeast Asia and New Zealand.”

The six-hour flight to Cairns – PAL’s fifth Australian destination – will depart Manila at 2345, arriving in Australia at 0800 the following day. The one-hour stopover will allow PAL to pick up passengers from Cairns for the continuing journey to Auckland. The flight will arriving in Auckland at 1600.

The return flight from Auckland will depart at 1830, arrive in Cairns at 2230 for a brief stopover, before arriving in Manila at 0330 the following morning. www.philippineairlines.com