Philippine Airlines said it plans to acquire new turboprop aircraft next year to replace old small airplanes.
“We are still working on it. We are still operating nine turboprop aircraft. We are working on replacement for the older ones to give passengers a great experience,” PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista said.
Bautista said the company planned to buy new smaller aircraft in 2017 or 2018.
“It’s not expensive, you can buy it at little over $20 million each,” he said.
PAL currently owns four Bombardier DHC 8-300 aircraft and five Bombardier DHC 8-400 aircraft which PAL dry leased to sister company PAL Express. A dry lease is a leasing arrangement where an airline provides an aircraft, without crew, to another airline.
PAL Express uses these aircraft to fly to provincial destinations.
PAL’s domestic network, including those operated by PAL Express, covers 31 cities and towns in the Philippines.
It serves the following domestic destinations: Bacolod, Basco, Butuan, Busuanga, Cagayan, Calbayog, Catarman, Caticlan, Cebu, Cotabato, Davao, Dipolog, Dumaguete, General Santos, Iloilo, Jolo, Kalibo, Laoag, Legazpi, Manila, Masbate, Naga, Ozamiz, Puerto Princesa, Roxas, Surigao, Tablas, Tacloban, Tagbilaran, Tuguegarao and Zamboanga.
Domestic operations contributed 20 percent to PAL’s total revenue last year.
The airline, now wholly-owned by tycoon Lucio Tan after he bought back a 49-percent stake that San Miguel Corp. purchased from him in 2012, posted a net income of P2.71 billion in January to March, down by 28 percent from P3.78 billion last year.
Revenues rose 4.1 percent in the first quarter to P29.12 billion from last year’s P27.98 billion.
Passenger revenues rose to P24.65 billion in the first quarter from P23.09 billion in the same period last year. Cargo revenues fell 31 percent to P1.47 billion from P2.14 billion.
Expenses in January to March grew 6.2 percent to P26.2 billion from P24.7 billion last year.
Bautista earlier said it was studying the government’s request to transfer turboprop operations to Clark Airport from Ninoy Aquino International Airport, which was highly congested.
“Not all [of our domestic flights]. We are still studying it,” he said.
“We are working on it. The reason why the government wants us to move some flights to Clark is because we want to decongest Manila to prevent inconvenience to the passengers,” Bautista said earlier.
Bautista said the airline would study the impact of the proposal on passengers and on the company’s operating cost.
Bautista said the government should provide additional infrastructure before transferring some of its operations to Clark.
Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade earlier said the agency planned to ask airlines to transfer their turboprop operations to Clark as a part of the government program to decongest Naia.
Japan International Cooperation Agency said Naia was expected to exceed its maximum handling capacity this year, when the airport would handle 37.78 million passengers. Its maximum handling capacity stands at 35 million passengers a year.
PAL incurred additional costs of at least P5.7 million due to diverted flights brought about by the closure of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Monday.
“We have to spend more fuel. For example, all the flights diverted to Clark, we have to load additional 15 tons of fuel. It cost us a few thousands of dollars. Let’s say $15,000 per flight. We have eight diverted flights to Clark and then we have to pay parking fee,” Bautista said.
The Manila International Airport Authority on July 18 ordered the temporary closure of the Naia runway to avoid safety issues and untoward incidents to aircrafts and passengers. The small asphalt cracks observed by airport crew in the morning got considerably bigger due to continued landing and takeoff.