Philippine Airlines(PR), who are planning to launch flights from Manila to the Brazilian metropolis of São Paulo in early May (the signing of a Bilateral Air Services Agreement pending) could be considering the African hubs of either Johannesburg (possibly Cape Town) or Addis Ababa as a transitory point.
According to ch-aviation, the São Paulo route will soon launch, in line with the Filipino carrier's international expansion strategy who last year listed "Brazil as one of its top 10 international growth markets." However, with the journey 11'400 miles long, Philippine Airlines has had to consider the use of an intermediary point with Ethiopian Airlines' (ET) hub, Addis Ababa, a possibility.
"A recent announcement by Ethiopian Airlines (ETH) to fly Manila was given by CAB as hint for a possible PAL stop-over in Addis Ababa with both airlines working on the terms of the code share arrangement to São Paulo. Ethiopian Airlines is scheduled to fly Sao Paulo on July 1 while ETH planned flight to Manila commences on June 18.
Arcilla said that if they can reach an agreement and there is no objections from other airlines then the Board will probably approve it. "
Source [PhilippineAirspaceBlog]
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| Possible routings between Manila and São Paulo. |
Also a possibility is an intermediate stop over in either Johannesburg or Cape Town, given South Africa's strong trade relations with the South East Asia nation. It is to be recalled that Malaysia Airlines (MH) operated Kuala Lumpur - Johannesburg - Cape Town - Buenos Aires for 20 odd years before eventually axing the route in late 2011 citing its low yields.
