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Starting early next year, flag-carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) will be adding Brisbane to its key destinations to boost profits and market performance in Australia. The PAL is eyeing a twice-weekly service direct to Brisbane, Queensland, and twice a week via Melbourne. It will be using a 320-seater Airbus 330-300 aircraft.

PAL president Jaime Bautista said, “With the Brisbane service, we expect to make the existing Australian routes more profitable as we cater to more passengers flying to and from the country including the Filipino migrant community, tourists and businessmen considering its constantly growing market.” he added, “The addition of Brisbane, our third destination, is expected to boost PAL’s market performance as the Australian economy remains resilient amidst the crippling worldwide recession.”

Brisbane, together with Sydney and Melbourne, are the three most populated cities in Australia and also the most popular tourist destinations Down Under. The Lucio Tan-led airline company flies five times a week to Sydney and Melbourne. Its new extended range Boeing B777-300ER will serve Sydney, using Recaro full-flat seats in business class and Weber seats with in-seat video console in economy.

But while adding in flights in Australia, the airline announced earlier that it would be reducing its international flights to match dipping demand and trim its operational costs. Just like the flights to Los Angeles and San Francisco, which were trimmed from nine and eight a week, respectively, to seven for each destination. It also planned to reduce flights to Vancouver, Japan, Hong Kong and Australia.

The airline acquired a Boeing B777-300ER last month. It’s the first Boeing 777 in its fleet, and one of two leased B777-300ERs that the airline will deploy on its international routes.