CAIRNS, Australia – Cairns residents will gain non-stop flights to Manila and more choice to Auckland come December as Philippine Airlines kicks off its newest route: Manila to Auckland via Cairns.

Running four-times-weekly in each direction, the Cairns stopover allows easy access to the city itself and to the Great Barrier Reef for Filipinos and Kiwis, while Aussies can book trips to either Manila or Auckland without visiting the other city.

On Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, PR219 leaves Cairns at 11:30pm to reach Manila at 3:30am the following morning. In reverse, PR218 pushes back in Manila at 11:45pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, touching down in Cairns at 8am the next day.

Auckland bound? You’ll take to the skies at 9am on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays to reach New Zealand at 4pm, with return flights available at 6:30pm on the same days and reaching Cairns at 10:30pm.

Using an Airbus A320, passengers have a choice of either business class or economy on all flights, with those making the full journey from Manila to Auckland enjoying a transit time in Cairns of just one hour.

Competing airline SilkAir is gearing up to launch its own Cairns-Asia flights next week with a new non-stop service to Singapore, and additional Singapore-Darwin flights that will also continue onwards to Cairns.