For three days only, special fares are available from Manila to Darwin, Perth and Brisbane from 1 June to 31 January 2014.
The first thing that will raise eyebrows for Territorians is the price difference between Darwin, Perth and Brisbane. As a half way stop over point Darwin fares could have been expected to be considerably lower than fares to Perth or Brisbane. However these introductory fares show that there is no price difference with Perth, and Brisbane fares are only slightly higher. The rationale behind this apparently rough deal probably lies with the fact that as a foreign airline PAL is unable to carry domestic passengers between Darwin and Perth or Brisbane. Therefore any Darwin - Manila passenger is potentially taking up a seat that could have occupied by a Perth or Brisbane passenger. Hence it is not surprising that there is little or no difference in fares to and from Manila from the three new Australian destinations.
It is worth noting that the PAL website is currently showing equivalent fare values (in AUD) for a Darwin-Manila-Darwin journey to those shown in the website ad featured above.
The second thing that might raise eyebrows is that as an introductory fare of around $500 is not that special compared to Jetstar's offerings on the same route. Return fares available today are as low as $290. Adding checked-in baggage and booking fees takes that fare to around $350. Now PAL will offer full-service and more space, but for many $150 will be seen as too steep a premium to pay.
It will be interesting to see what PAL's regular fares are once they are published and how Jetstar respond.