By GENIVI FACTAO

Philippine Airlines yesterday said it is budgeting P3.5 billion to refurbish nine long-range, wide-body planes.

Lufthansa Technik Philippines will finish the refurbishment of 5 Boeing 747-400 and 4 Airbus A340-300 by next year.

Renovation will take two months and the first plane sporting the new interiors will fly by June.

Rene Soliman of PAL Corporate Communications Department said there will be no disruption in schedules since the renovation has been scheduled two years ago.

PAL has 33 flights a week to the United States and its territories. PAL currently flies to Los Angeles 11 times a week, San Francisco, 9; Las Vegas via Vancouver, 5; Honolulu, 3 and Guam 5.

All the 5 of PAL’s Boeing 747-400 aircraft are deployed to LA and San Francisco while the A340-300 flies to LA, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Honolulu.

Its US operations account for 30 percent of its total revenues.

"Our operations in the US is said to be our bread and butter routes," he said.

PAL’s 4 Boeing 747-400 were built in November 1993 and the 5th in March 1996. All the Airbus A340-300 were built in 1997. The project is the biggest overhaul after more than 10 years.

Each plane has 18 cabin crews that can be deployed in other PAL flights, domestic or international when the aircraft undergo the refurbishment.

PAL said there has been a clamor for business-class service and the competitive pressures prompted PAL to upgrade its service.

"During the transition period, from now until the roll out of the last reconfigured aircraft, all B747-400 and A340-300 flights will be sold as bi-class flights," PAL said.

PAL president Jaime Bautista earlier said they will increase seat capacity of their aircrafts, improve lights, in flight entertainment system,.

"The project involves the installation of state-of-the-art in flight entertainment systems, new business-class and economy-class seats, and the infusion of a new, modern look that emulates the tranquil seas and sandy beaches of the Philippines," the company said.

The renovation will highlight the reconfiguration of the passenger cabin from a tri-class to bi-class layout, along with a major upgrade of the interiors and amenities.

The wide-body reconfiguration dovetails the ongoing modernization program for PAL’s narrow-body fleet that features many of the same key elements – audio/video on-demand (AVOD) technology, German-made Recaro seats, and tropical-themed cabin interiors as well as personalized in flight meal service in Mabuhay (Business) class, called "One by One".

The major modification is the reconfiguration of the wide-body aircraft layout from the current tri-class to bi-class, which involves the expansion of the Mabuhay Class section into the erstwhile First Class section, it added.