By Ulysses Torres-Sabuco
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Variety News Staff
FOR Philippine Airlines, a carrier whose history traces the earliest days of commercial aviation in Asia nearly a century ago, the return to Saipan is both a continuation and a milestone — restoring a direct link between the Northern Mariana Islands and Manila while adding the CNMI’s principal economic hub as its seventh destination in the United States.
On March 29, Saipan became the airline’s seventh destination in the United States, extending a network that now includes Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Honolulu, and Guam. While the Guam-Cebu route remains temporarily suspended, PAL continues to operate its Manila-Guam service.
The resumption of the Manila-Saipan route restores a direct link long valued by travelers in the Northern Marianas, reopening a corridor that connects the islands more closely to Asia while reinforcing broader travel and tourism movement between Asia and North America.
For an airline founded in 1941, such expansion carries historical weight. Philippine Airlines is widely regarded as Asia’s first and oldest commercial airline still operating under its original name. Its inaugural flight took off on March 15, 1941, when a Beechcraft Model 18 carried five passengers from Nielson Field in Makati to Baguio, a modest journey that marked the beginning of commercial aviation in the region.
In the years that followed, PAL charted new paths as the first Asian airline to fly to Europe in 1947 and the first to cross the Pacific in 1948.
That legacy now meets a renewed phase of growth. PAL’s return to Saipan comes as the carrier moves through 2026 with expanded frequencies to major hubs such as Los Angeles, offering up to three daily flights on select days. It has also introduced new Airbus A350-1000 aircraft into its fleet, deploying them on key long-haul routes to New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
The Saipan service resumes alongside PAL’s Palau operations, which also relaunched on March 29 in Manila. The airline is operating twice-weekly flights using an Airbus A321ceo, with departures from Manila on Wednesdays and Sundays and return flights from Koror on Mondays and Thursdays.
Airline and tourism observers see the Saipan route as part of a broader strategy: one that strengthens PAL’s Pacific network while reinforcing Manila’s role as a regional transit hub.
From Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the airline connects passengers from North America, Oceania, and the Middle East to a network of 32 domestic and 41 international destinations, including key cities across Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia.
For Saipan, the implications are both practical and symbolic. Flights now operate on Mondays and Thursdays from Saipan, and on Wednesdays and Sundays from Manila, supporting not only tourism flows but also long-standing ties with the Filipino community in the CNMI. The route also facilitates medical referrals and provides access to onward destinations such as Thailand and Singapore.
PAL previously served the Manila-Saipan route in the 1990s and again briefly in 2016 before discontinuing the service. Its return has been delayed several times, making the 2026 relaunch — timed with the airline’s 85th anniversary — a moment that bridges past and present.
In that sense, Saipan’s place on PAL’s route map is more than an addition. It is a continuation of a network that began with a five-passenger flight in 1941 — and continues to expand, island by island, across the Pacific.
