The parent firm of Philippine Airlines said it posted a net loss last year on higher operating expenses due to costlier jet fuel.
PAL Holdings Inc. said the net loss reached P6.47 billion in 2017, a reversal of the P4.92-billion net income realized in 2016.
Consolidated revenues climbed 13.2 percent in 2017 to P129.5 billion from P114.5 billion in 2016.
“The increase in revenues was attributable mainly to higher passenger revenues brought about by the growth in volume of passengers carried and number of flights mounted,” PAL Holdings said.
PAL started flights between Clark and Seoul, Cebu and Chengdu, Kalibo and Chengdu, Kalibo and Guangzhou and Cebu and Bangkok and daily service to Kuala Lumpur last year.
The airlines said that on the domestic network, it also introduced route sectors originating at Clark Airport in Pampanga, Cebu and Davao.
PAL said it flew 14.5 million passengers in 2017, up from 13.4 million in 2016.
Consolidated expenses jumped 26.7 percent in 2017 to P136 billion from P107.3 billion in 2016.
The main drivers for the growth are attributable to flying operations expenses, maintenance, passenger service, aircraft and traffic servicing, and reservation and sales, it said.
Flying operations expenses increased 31.7 percent to P67.3 billion last year from P51.1 billion in 2016.
PAL said it spent P37.7 billion for jet fuel in 2017, up from P26.1 billion in 2016. This represented 10.1 million barrels burned in 2017, up from 9.1 barrels in the previous year.
Jet fuel prices increased from an average of $67.57 per barrel in 2016 to $75.59 a barrel in 2017.
Aircraft lease rentals increased to P14.1 billion last year from P11.6 billion in 2016 with the phase-in of additional B777 and A321 aircraft.
PAL said the increase in the number of flights in 2017 resulted in higher aircraft and traffic servicing expenses particularly ground handling charges and landing and take-off charges.