PAL Holdings Inc., operator of Philippine Airlines, said net loss in the first quarter of 2018 fell 62 percent to P201.67 million from P533.97 million year-on-year mostly because of higher passenger revenues.
Total revenues in the first three months amounted to P36.79 billion, up 12.7 percent from P32.65 billion a year ago.
“The increase in revenues was attributable mainly to higher passenger revenues brought about by the growth in number of passengers carried and number of flights operated,” PAL Holdings said.
Total expenses during the quarter increased 13.9 percent to P36.90 billion from P32.39 billion.
PAL Holdings attributed the increase to higher expenses related to flying operations, passenger service, aircraft and traffic servicing, reservations and sales and general and administrative accounts, offset in part by the decrease in maintenance expenses.
Flying operations expenses increased 18.4 percent mainly due to higher fuel costs and lease charges. The average fuel price surged to $88.24 during the period from $76.15 in 2017.
Passenger service expenses increased 19.9 percent from last year’s P2.86 billion primarily due to the increase in the number of passengers carried and the number of flights mounted.
The increase in flights operated during the quarter resulted in higher aircraft and traffic servicing cost by 11.8 percent over the year ago level of P4.31 billion.
PAL earlier said it planned to increase its aircraft to 100 by 2020 from the current 85 to achieve its goal of obtaining a 5-star airline rating.
The airline, owned by tycoon Lucio Tan, said new routes and more flight frequencies were being introduced, with the flag carrier accepting the delivery of five additional Next Generation Bombardier Q400s and six new Airbus A321neos starting this month, along with four Airbus A350-900 trans-oceanic aircraft starting in June.