New and bigger plane used on flights to Philippines

Philippine Airlines will upgrade the aircraft used on its Auckland-Manila route to a newer and bigger Airbus A330 aircraft. Picture / Getty Images

Philippine Airlines will upgrade the aircraft used on its Auckland-Manila route to a newer and bigger Airbus A330 aircraft.

Starting on June 17, the plane will replace the smaller A340 used on the non-stop route that operates three times a week.

The current four-engine A340 has 254 seats while the newer two-engine aircraft has 309 seats.

The shift increases the overall route capacity by 22 per cent, helping to stimulate leisure and business travel.

The links are worth an estimated $13.6 million a year to the New Zealand economy.

Since June last year the airline reconfigured eight Airbus A330s, originally 414-seaters with all economy cabins, by installing a three cabin configuration, featuring full-flat business-class seats, premium economy and economy.

In place of the previous configuration of nine seats on each row, the economy class on the reconfigured A330 has just eight seats per row in a more spacious layout.