Philippines Airlines said it expects to carry more than 20 million passengers by 2021, as it takes delivery of more brand new airplanes.
PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista said the airline was expected to carry 15 million passengers this year and over 20 million passengers by 2021.
Bautista said the growth would come from foreign visitors, overseas Filipino workers, businessmen and entrepreneurs who power the economy.
“To achieve this, we will grow our fleet from 87 aircraft today to at least 96 by 2021. In doing so, we will phase out 18 older aircraft and take delivery of 27 brand-new airplanes,” he said.
Bautista said PAL would take delivery of two brand new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft later this year for long trans-Pacific journeys, completing a fleet of 10 B777s for deployment to New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver and London Heathrow.
“Next year, we will start flying the Airbus A321 Neo, including a special longer-range version that will enable us to launch nonstop services to Brisbane, Delhi, Perth, Mumbai and Sapporo, as well as increase flights to Melbourne and other Asia/Pacific destinations,” Bautista said.
“Also in 2018, we are excited to introduce the Airbus A350 as our new ultra-long-range flagship, a 295-seater wide-body airplane that will help us link the Philippines nonstop to New York, Chicago, Seattle and far-flung points in Europe and North America,” Bautista said.
PAL said for domestic routes, it would revamp its commuter fleet by introducing 12 new generation Bombardier Q400s, a high-technology Canadian aircraft.
PAL also submitted an unsolicited proposal to build a P20-billon passenger terminal beside its current hub at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Centennial Terminal 2 to expand capacity.
The proposed terminal would be designed to handle 12 million to 15 million passenger per year and would have aerobridges capable of serving 12 to 17 wide-bodied and single aisle jets.
Bautista said construction of the new terminal was expected to start by December 2020.
