President Jaime J. Bautista has defined a new vision for Philippine Airlines—to become a five-star airline and one of the world’s best by 2020, and a new mission—to deliver safe, reliable, efficient, and wholesale travel experience, one that captures the heart of the Filipino.
He must summon not only his finance skills but also his marketing prowess to rebrand PAL as among the world’s best.
Under the leadership of Chairman Lucio Tan, PAL has always bounced back every time it fell,” Bautista says.
Jimmy has been the Kapitan’s most trusted executive. He has been the CFO of many companies in the legendary tycoon’s conglomerate which includes Philippine National Bank, Fortune Tobacco, Asia Brewery, Century Park Hotel, Eton Properties, and assets abroad, including Hong Kong, China, and Guam.
On PAL, Tan told Bautista: “Let’s manage it properly.”
At the helm, Bautista has quickly instituted reforms, policies and programs, all focused on one overriding objective—bring PAL to five-star status, beloved by Filipinos, balikbayans and foreigners alike, and with service, fleet, on-time performance, and amenities and management team that are world-class and second to none.
In 2015, PAL scored its best year ever. It chalked up a net income of $134.42 million, 6.5 times the $20.4 million posted in 2014.
“The year 2016 marked the third consecutive year of profitable growth for PAL,” gushes Bautista.
Bautista’s profit and growth strategy has been hamstrung somehow by a markedly competitive environment brought about by the rise of no-frills, damn-the-market low-cost carriers and the new Asean Open Skies policy which opens the Philippines to predatory low-cost carriers in the region.
The PAL management thus is focusing on three key areas: fleet modernization, international and domestic expansion, and the building of the PAL brand, what Bautista calls “innovations to build brand equity and deliver the desired customer experience.”
The PAL president believes these three factors are crucial to the airline becoming five-star as early as 2020—barely two years from now. Indeed, every airline has the same class of airplanes, the same target markets, the same airports and amenities. Ultimately thus, what differentiates a carrier from the rest is service—and brand image. In this regard, PAL has the upperhand.
PAL Holdings had total assets as of Sept. 30, 2017 of P138 billion, P13 billion or 10.4 percent higher than the Dec. 31, 2016 balance of P125 billion. Total equity as of Sept. 30, 2017 amounted to P10.5 billion,, down by P3.5 billion or 25.2 percent. The decrease was brought about by the total comprehensive loss recognized for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2017.
For the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2017, PAL Holdings, Inc suffered a loss of P3.5 billion, a significant downturn from the P2.9 billion total comprehensive profits in the same period in 2016.
Nine-month 2017 revenues totaled P98.6 billion, 15.6 percent higher than in 2016.
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