Delta Air Lines has opposed Philippine Airlines’ request for the Department of Transportation (DOT) to approve its planned route between Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL) and Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) unless its own services between Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and MNL are also approved.
In a filing on March 11, 2026, Delta Air Lines said that it does not oppose Philippine Airlines’ request “in principle” since the airline’s MNL-ORD services can “provide public benefits, including enhanced consumer choice and increased trade and tourism between the two countries.”
“However, those benefits can only be fully realized if US and Philippine carriers are afforded a level and reciprocal opportunity to access Manila on commercially viable terms.”
Delta Air Lines argued that while the intent of the US-Philippines Air Transport Agreement (ATA) is to “ensure fair and equal opportunity,” the airline and other United States-based carriers face “significant barriers to obtaining commercially viable slots, gates, and related airport infrastructure” at MNL.
At the same time, Philippine Airlines has been able to expand its services to the US, including the recent flights to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), which the carrier launched on October 2, 2024, and now, requested the DOT to approve its MNL-ORD services.
“Granting [Philippine Airlines] additional US authority while US carriers remain unable to obtain reciprocal access at Manila would further entrench an uneven competitive landscape and would be inconsistent with the Department’s longstanding policy of promoting fair competition.”
As such, Delta Air Lines asked the DOT to only approve Philippine Airlines’ MNL-ORD flights after the airline and the Department receive “written assurances” from the Philippines that its LAX-MNL service will be given the green light, including slots at MNL.
If the Department will allow Philippine Airlines to launch flights between MNL and ORD, it would undermine the DOT’s “statutory mandate to ensure competitive fairness and would be contrary to the spirit and intent of the bilateral air transport agreement, as described above.”
Delta Air Lines wants to launch daily Airbus A350-900 services between LAX and MNL for the summer 2027 season, it told the DOT.
Cirium’s Diio Mi shows that in 2026, United Airlines is the only carrier with scheduled non-stop or one-stop services between the continental US and MNL, offering double-daily departures from San Francisco International Airport (SFO).
United Airlines also has a flight from LAX to Mactan-Cebu International Airport (CEB) that stops at Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT).
Delta Air Lines has not operated from the US to MNL, or the Philippines, since October 2017, when it ended its one-stop flights from Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) to MNL via NRT.
American Airlines, despite having a codeshare agreement with Philippine Airlines that, for now, includes a handful of US domestic routes from LAX, has not served the Philippines since at least 2000, per Cirium’s Diio Mi. The two airlines requested additional codeshare routes from LAX, SEA, and SFO in early March.
Rytis Beresnevicius
