Philippine Airlines is looking at flying to New Zealand as part of an international expansion.
The flag carrier's president, Jaime Bautista, says the airline is studying flying to Auckland as it is set to launch new flights to China and Papua New Guinea in the next few months.
"Maybe this year. We are still studying it. It will actually depend on the numbers," Bautista said in the Philippines Star.
At present the airline had three unused entitlements per week to operate flights to New Zealand.
Auckland Airport would not comment directly on the reports, saying: "We are in discussions with a number of international airlines about the possibility of them flying to Auckland."
However, an amended air service agreement signed between the two countries last year was aimed at building towards possible direct flights.
Transport Minister Simon Bridges said last November that the Philippines was an important market and more than 40,000 Filipinos live and work here.
Nearly 14,000 Filipinos visited New Zealand in the year ended September 2014.
In the same period, just over 19,000 New Zealanders travelled to the Philippines as their main overseas destination.
The amended agreement allowed Air New Zealand to begin its plans to code-share to the Philippines with Singapore Airlines as part of the partnership between those two airlines from January 2015.
"The new code-sharing provision will help develop the market and build momentum towards possible direct flights in the future," Bridges said.
Philippine Airlines' rival airline Cebu Air also talked early last year about flying to New Zealand but nothing has eventuated.
Philippines Airlines operates a network of services within the Philippines as well throughout Asia, North America, Australia and the Pacific.
It has more than 70 planes including Boeing 777s and Airbus A340s.
House of Travel commercial director Brent Thomas said the Philippines was growing in popularity as a holiday destination and direct flights would boost it further.
With a flight time of about 10.5 hours it could be a short holiday break for Kiwis.
Last week the airline's parent firm said it had returned to profitability for the first time in three years.
In a filing with the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday, PAL Holdings reported an after-tax net profit of 129.74 million pesos ($3.75 million) in its fiscal year to December 31.
PAL, through PAL Holdings, is controlled by Chinese-Filipino billionaire Lucio Tan, who is the country's fourth-wealthiest man according to the Forbes.com website.
- By Grant Bradley of the New Zealand Herald, additional reporting AAP
