MANILA - Philippine Airlines said yesterday it will stop flying unprofitable routes such as Riyadh and Kuala Lumpur but will revive services to India and increase them to the United States.

PAL president Jaime Bautista said the flag-carrier would drop Riyadh in March because of intense competition from Middle East carriers to the Saudi capital.

PAL will also stop flying to Kuala Lumpur on February 15 after seeing passenger volumes drop after the entry of low-cost Malaysian carrier AirAsia to that market.

"We were trying to maintain Riyadh to give our overseas Filipino workers the seats but since the Middle Eastern carriers have been serving the route well, then we can suspend operations," Bautista said, referring to the thousands of Filipinos who work in the Middle East.

The US routes remain the most profitable overseas destinations for PAL and the carrier plans to beef up its flights to either San Francisco or Los Angeles, said Bautista.

PAL may also start flying to the Indian business hub of Mumbai this year or early 2007, Bautista said.

PAL announced last month that it had signed a deal to buy nine new Airbus A320 aircraft with an option for five more as part of an ambitious fleet upgrade.*AFP

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