Sneak peek: The 10-abreast Airbus A350-1000 coming soon to Philippine Airlines
June 23, 2025
Philippine Airlines has shared some images of its first Airbus A350-1000 at the Final Assembly Line in Toulouse.
The aircraft can be seen with the iconic ‘Sunriser’ design on the tail, a livery that has been unchanged for more than 40 years. The structure is mostly complete.
The airline invited media to attend the FAL to see the aircraft last week. Speaking to Manila Bulletin at the event, new president of the airline, Richard Nuttall, commented,
“The first thing I’ve noticed about the airline is that it is in a much better place, and the product is way better than I think even the airline itself understands. The 350 1000 is just going to take it to a new level.”
He noted that the aircraft and product was anticipated to be something the airline could be “really proud of,” and that it would be a great ambassador for the nation as well.
Philippine Airlines is first full-service carrier to choose 10-abreast economy
With the introduction of the A350-1000, Philippine Airlines is also introducing a brand-new business class product.
The 42-seat cabin will have the popular 1-2-1 configuration, using the Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seat, which includes a door. It’s the same seat found on Etihad’s A350s and some of Qatar’s 787s and A350s.
Premium economy will have 24 seats in a 2-4-2 configuration, a fairly standard arrangement for this cabin.
But back in economy, things will be a little different from the experience on other airlines’ A350-1000s. The airline notes it has 316 seats in economy, which is only achievable with a 10-abreast configuration.
The A350 has been designed to support 10-abreast, but it’s a squeeze. The vast majority of airlines have opted for nine-abreast, but not all of them.
Both French Caribbean airline Air Caraibes and French bee fly their A350s – both -900 and -1000 – with 10 seats across (3-4-3). These French airlines are highly leisure focussed and considered to be low-cost, making Philippine Airlines the first truly full service carrier to pick this configuration.
The two French airlines have had to reduce the seat width to just 16.7″ to accommodate 10 abreast. Thanks to the new production standard for the A350-1000, which adds a few inches to the cabin width, PAL may be able to have seats a little wider, but not much.
First destinations for Philippine Airlines A350-1000
Philippine Airlines already flies a handful of A350-900s (with nine-abreast seating) on its longest flights, including to Toronto and New York. The nine incoming A350-1000s will replace the airline’s older Boeing 777-300ERs, taking over its very longest flagship routes.
“We selected the A350-1000 to give PAL the power to match capacity closely to predicted demand on both the very longest routes to the North American East Coast but also on our prime trunk routes to the West Coast and potentially to Europe as well,” said Captain Stanley K. Ng, President and Chief Operating Officer of Philippine Airlines, in 2023 when the airline ordered the aircraft.
During the media event, Nuttall gave some more colour on the first routes for the A350-1000. “We plan to put these aircraft in service on our prime routes to the United States and Canada, starting with Los Angeles, San Francisco and Toronto, as well as New York,” he said to Business Inquirer.
These ultra-long-haul routes will see passengers strapped in for 16 hours or more. For those in economy, that’s a long time, and it remains to be seen what the reaction to the squeezy seat arrangement will be.
