New airline - flying to Guam

PacificFlier, a new Palau based carrier, is scheduled to take to the skies for first time on January 7, 2010.

PacificFlier will offer services from The Republic of Palau to Manila (Clark Field), The Philippines, Guam, Tokyo (Narita), Japan and Brisbane, Australia.*

The flying time to the popular tourism destination of Micronesia, namely Palau and Guam, is approximately six hours and it is in the same time zone as Australia's east coast.

PacificFlier is offering a number of competitively priced, introductory passenger fares, freight fares and holiday packages to both Palau and Guam for all bookings make until January 7.

Published fares for Brisbane to Palau start from $995.00 return including taxes and for Brisbane to Guam $915.00 return including taxes.

It is a pity they don't include any other Pacific countries. I know the people attending the Pacific Arts Festival in Palau a few years ago had to travel by ship (probably cargo ship). A stopover somewhere like Honiara, as Our Airline does, could provide a link to Fiji (which would be a bit out of the way.)

I wish them success and hope they can stick around. Hopefully it will make the cost of getting to Palau more affordable. After the great time we had there in February we would love to return if airfare from Canada were more reasonable for us. Thanks for the information Mandja.

I wish the same.
Unfortunately new airlines in the region have a poor survival record - and so do cheap flights to Micronesia in general (thinking of Asian Spirit's Palau flights).

I wouldn't book very far in advance if I were you. A new airline pops up every few years and you can see how successful they are. I wonder who owns this airline- if you can tell me that I can give you some guess as to whether it ever flies. Continental has some VERY influential friends in the islands.

In any case, I sent an email to their Philippine representative to ask about fares from that end - their website contains pretty much zero info on fares, just some vague package offers (from where???).
Manila-Koror should be the cheapest of their routes.
I also had doubts about booking well in advance, or even just about booking a RT ticket, so asked for both OW and RT fares! ;-)

Let us know what you hear. At some point the main players will find something else to do, or maybe and cheap fares will come to the islands. But then they will be over run with tourists so what to do what to do.

No reply all day yesterday - maybe even their appointed agent has no idea about the fares yet! :-)

I guess fares to Micronesia will never ever be so cheap that they would bring in real crowds. And even if they will, those "crowds" would mostly stay put on the main islands they can fly into. How many tourists will take field trips to outer islands? ;-)

HERE IS THE REPLY TO MY ENQUIRY RE MANILA - PALAU FLIGHT

Good day! Thank you for your inquiry. We're pleased to answer your questions.

The Manila (Clark Airport) to Palau flights of PACIFIC FLIER are scheduled to commence on JAN 13, 2010 based on this schedule:

CLARK-PALAU (2 hours and 35 mins)

Every WED/FRI flight PI302 0700 1035
SUN flight PI217 0700 1035

PALAU-CLARK (2 hours and 30 mins)

Every TUE/SAT flight PI301 1730 1900
THU flight PI212 1740 1910

Economy Class Airfare from Clark-Palau:

1) ONE-WAY: USD230 per person
Plus Taxes: USD45.60*

2) ROUNDTRIP: USD459 per person
Plus taxes: USD55.60*

*Taxes inclusive of the Philippine Travel Tax

Reservations online is not yet possible at the moment, as the reservations engine is still under construction. However, we can assist you in making manual reservations with Pacific Flier once you firm up your travel plans. Just let us know your travel dates and passport name/s and we will revert to you with the reservations confirmation and payment conditions.

Interesting that flights are about to start but no online reservations, and also slow email response to a booking request. Doesnt augur well for their financial future, methinks.

I never even got a reply from the Filipino representative - does not make them sound to serious.
The quoted fares are attractive though.

Attractive but not brilliant.

They can beat Continental if someone just wants to add Palau (or Guam?) to a SE Asia trip, especially if doing so in a OW direction like Manila-Palau-Guam-HK.
In fact on a OW basis, I doubt fares to Micronesia will ever get significantly lower than these.
These are pretty similar to what the now ceased Asian Spirit service used to cost, I think.

For multistop trips in Micronesia, Continental does offer better deals every now and then.
I have twice been quoted ca 700 USD for Manila-Palau-Yap RT, but as soon as I made up my mind and tried to buy, those quoted fares mysteriously doubled! :-(

The fares are obviously designed to keep hoi polloi from entering into the islands (broadly ginning emoticon!)

By now even the website of PacificFlier has gone offline... (supposedly temporarily)

That sounds about right for most upstarts in Micronesia.

Merry Christmas all!

Finally, a "mere" 25 days or so after inquiring by email, I also got a reply from their Philippine agent.
I am still having my reservations about this new airline and would only use them OW or for very short RTs, if at all...

Clark - Palau PI 306 every WED and FRI 0700 - 1035HRS

Clark - Palau PI 217 every SUN 0700 - 1035HRS

Palau - Clark PI 305 every TUE and SAT 1730 - 1900HRS

Palau - Clark PI 212 every THU 1740 - 1910HRS

Economy Class Airfare:

ONE WAY : USD 230.00 per person

TAXES : USD 45.60 per person*

ROUNDTRIP : USD 459.00 per person

TAXES : USD 55.60 per person*

What is Air Mike? Wasn't it about $600? Including taxes? Or am I forgetting how high it is.

I just checked my notes and we paid Continental $607US per ticket last Nov for our trip in Feb.

That is not a big savings. And where is Clark?

Clark is north of Manila.
The former US airbase, turned into a budget airport.

I agree the savings on a RT to Palau are minuscule.
It might be worth using this airline for OW flights.

So if you happen to be nearer the main airport you could 1)spend your savings in taxi fare and 2)if the traffic hasn't improved, take forever and ever getting there. I don't know- I'm not sure I give this new attempt a lot of a chance.

To be fair, Clark is quite easily accessible, and also used by popular airlines like Air Asia.
For me the main reason to be wary of this new airline given the small difference in its rates against Conti is simply its shaky start and the potential of getting stranded.