Philippine Airlines Goes Big: Chicago Nonstop, New Suites, and Oneworld Membership
Manila's flag carrier is having the busiest year of its 85-year history — and the payoff lands over the next 18 months.
Earlier this year, Boeing and Philippine Airlines announced the flag carrier committed to order up to 20 787 Dreamliner jets. Photo: Boeing
Chicago joins the map
Philippine Airlines opens nonstop Manila–Chicago service on 9 November 2026, three times weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
PR132 departs Manila 4:40pm, arrives O'Hare 4:45pm the same afternoon (roughly 14hr 15min).
PR133 leaves Chicago 10:45pm and lands in Manila 5:25am two calendar days later — a punishing 16hr 40min westbound.
Chicago becomes PAL's eighth destination across the US and its territories, joining Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Guam and Saipan. That makes PAL the Southeast Asian carrier with the deepest reach into North America — and it is a return, not a debut: the airline flew to Chicago briefly between 1985 and 1988.
The commercial logic is diaspora, not business travel. Chicago anchors one of the largest Filipino communities in the US, and O'Hare's connecting bank opens up the entire Midwest without a second stop. Manila-side, the flight feeds onward services to Cebu, Palawan, Boracay and Davao, plus regional hops to Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong and Ho Chi Minh City.
The cabins finally catch up
PAL's premium product has long lagged its network ambition. The Airbus A350-1000, unveiled in Manila in January and styled by Tokyo's LIFT Aero Design, is the fix.
The flagship carries 382 seats in three classes: 42 business suites in a 1-2-1 reversed herringbone with privacy doors and 20-inch 4K screens, 24 premium economy recliners in a dedicated cabin, and 316 in economy. Reviewers have called the business cabin a genuine leap over the older A350-900s. Economy, configured 10-abreast, is a harder sell.
PAL signed an MoU at Farnborough in July for nine more A350-1000s, doubling its order to 18 — a clear statement that transpacific flying, not regional, is where the airline is placing its bets.
The Business Class suite on PAL’s new Airbus A350-1000. Photo: PAL
Then comes Oneworld
The bigger structural story is alliance membership. PAL is on track to join Oneworld towards the end of 2027, with the formal joining ceremony targeted for the second half of that year, according to Christoph Gaertner, the airline's VP of revenue management and alliances, speaking to Executive Traveller.
Membership forces changes PAL has needed anyway:
A new top-tier status. Mabuhay Miles currently has only two tiers — Elite and Premier Elite — which map roughly to Oneworld Ruby and Sapphire. That leaves nothing at Emerald level. Gaertner framed it as a question of how, not whether.
More lounge capacity in Manila. Oneworld Sapphire and Emerald members get lounge access regardless of cabin, and PAL is weighing an expanded lounge, a new flagship one, or both.
A possible terminal move. NAIA's operator wants full-service international carriers consolidated in Terminal 3. PAL currently splits international out of T1 and domestic out of T2. A move would mean new lounges built from scratch.
Why it matters for travellers
Once PAL is inside Oneworld, a Qantas, Cathay, British Airways, Qatar or Malaysia Airlines frequent flyer will finally be able to credit PAL flights, clear upgrades and use Manila lounges — and Manila becomes a far more useful Oneworld connecting point for Southeast Asia. Until then, Chicago is the headline: a new nonstop into a major US hub, on the newest metal PAL has ever flown.
Sources: Executive Traveller, Airbus, Chicago Department of Aviation, AeroTime