Philippine Airlines said it expects a “good” outlook this year with passenger traffic seen growing by double digit.
PAL president and chief executive Jaime Bautista said the airline aimed to carry 15 million domestic and international passengers this year, up from 13.5 million passengers last year.
“The demand will continue to grow, especially in the Philippines. The [economic] growth rate is around 6.7 percent [and] that means Filipinos will have the purchasing power to travel, so we are looking at more traveling”•even domestic, regional and international,” Bautista said.
“So, it’s a good outlook. Because of competition, there’s a lot of challenges [such as] congestion in airport, considering we have practically one runway in Manila [and] our ability to grow is limited,” he said.
PAL earlier transferred some of its domestic and international flights to Clark to decongest the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Bautista earlier said the airline expected to close a deal with a new strategic investor this year .
“We are looking at finalizing a deal with a strategic investor, hopefully this year. It takes time for a strategic investor to finalize their decisions. There’s negotiations, you have to agree on the valuations and you have to agree on the management,” Bautista said.