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PAL Express (formerly branded as Air Philippines and Airphil Express) is a wholly owned regional subsidiary of Philippine Airlines. It is PAL's regional brand, with services from its hubs in Manila, Clark, Cebu, and Davao.
The airline was rebranded a number of times - first as Air Philippines, then Airphil Express, and finally as PAL Express. After a series of financial losses, Air Philippines ceased operations until it was acquired by investors from Philippine Airlines. After the acquisition, the airline was re-launched as PAL Express, operating some routes and slot assignments of its sister company Philippine Airlines until its management decided to rebrand the carrier as a budget airline known as Airphil Express.
However, in March 2013, the airline name reverted to PAL Express. As a codeshare partner of Philippine Airlines, PAL Express operates as a full-service carrier within a low-cost business model.
PAL Express is Philippine Airlines' answer to Cebu Pacific's dominance in the low-cost travel market in the Philippines. It has allowed PAL to focus on the premium market, where PAL does not have competition among other airlines. PAL Express gained a significant increase in passengers following its launch as a low-cost carrier. The airline is currently in fleet acquisition mode to support its regional route expansion plan.
Air Philippines significantly increased ties with Philippine Airlines (PAL), including the merging of frequent flier plans, timetables, and ticket sales and subsequently transferred its operations to the larger Terminal 2 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport from the smaller Terminal 4 to join Philippine Airlines. Some of PAL's major stock owners are also owners of Air Philippines. Air Philippines officially ceased to be part of Philippine Airlines' frequent flier program, "Mabuhay Miles", on October 1, 2007. Air Philippines has said that they chose to back out of the Mabuhay Miles program to benefit their passengers, so rather than flying numerous flights to gain miles and wait to a certain point to receive bonuses, passengers can benefit with lower fares and more discounts with quicker bonuses, much more like today's modern-day low-cost airline.
PAL Express was unveiled on April 14, 2008. The airline primarily flies intra-regional routes from its Cebu hub to the Visayas and Mindanao islands, as well as secondary routes to smaller airports in island provinces that are not able to accommodate PAL's mainline jet aircraft. On May 5, 2008, PAL Express began operations by launching flights to Caticlan. The airline then announced that it would serve 22 inter-island routes, including some provincial points that lacked air service. Flights out of Cebu commenced on May 19, 2008. After Air Philippines ceased operations in 2009, they transferred all their flights to PAL Express.
PAL Express ceased operations on March 28, 2010, and transferred all of its flights to the then-newly launched Airphil Express.
On the day of the re-launch, the airline announced the acquisition of 20 A320s. In January and early February 2012, GE Capital Aviation Services Limited (GECAS) announced the delivery of three new Airbus A320 aircraft to Airphil Express to help the carrier expand its fleet.
During its time, Airphil Express was regarded as the fastest-growing low-cost airline in the Philippines. In 2011, it had a 19% market share in the Philippine aviation market. Its destinations and route network continued to expand as its fleet expanded.
PAL Express began carrying the brand name Philippine Airlines through a cooperative agreement with PAL. This strategy is intended to harmonize the two carriers in order to make them more competitive, ensure leadership and superior core services, and enhance the efficiency and profitability of both carriers. As PAL continued to expand its code-sharing agreement with PAL Express, PAL transferred most of its domestic flights to PAL Express by August 1, 2013.
In 2016, the airline signed a letter of intent with Bombardier for orders of up to 12 Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 aircraft in a two-class 86-seat configuration. On December 16, 2016, PAL Express began its Caticlan, Busuanga and Basco services from its Clark hub. These alternate route operations were launched to decongest traffic on their Manila hub.
On February 3, 2026, the airline announced that it would be moving all its turboprop operations from Manila to Clark on March 29, 2026, in accordance with the Manila Slot Coordination Committee's decision to move all turboprop flights from Manila to Clark last 2025.
| +PAL Express fleet ! rowspan="2" | Aircraft ! rowspan="2" | In service ! rowspan="2" | Orders ! colspan="4" | Passengers ! rowspan="2" | Notes | ||
| Airbus A320-200 | 15 | — | — | 12 | 168 | 180 | Some aircraft transferred from Philippine Airlines. |
| Airbus A321-200 | 4 | — | 12 | 18 | 169 | 199 | |
| De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 | 11 | — | — | 6 | 80 | 86 | |
| +PAL Express retired fleet | |||||
| Airbus A330-300 | 8 | 2013 | 2014 | None | Transferred from Philippine Airlines. Used on medium- and long-haul routes. |
| Boeing 737-200 | 22 | 1996 | 2009 | Airbus A320-200 | |
| 1 | 1999 | 2000 | None | RP-C3010 crashed in Davao as Flight 541. | |
| Boeing 737-300 | 3 | 2001 | 2004 | None | They were sold back to Philippine Airlines |
| Boeing 737-400 | 2 | 1998 | 1999 | Boeing 737-200 | Leased from Malaysia Airlines. |
| 4 | 2007 | 2018 | De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 | ||
| McDonnell Douglas MD-82 | 3 | 1998 | 2000 | Boeing 737-200 | |
| NAMC YS-11 | 6 | 1996 | None |
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