Philippine Airlines is set to sign a $1-billion deal with an aircraft manufacturer for six long-range, twin-engine wide-body jets next month, a top executive said Thursday.
PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista told reporters the flag carrier expected to sign by February the purchase agreement with an aircraft manufacturer for the six “ultra long-range aircraft.”
“We’ll make the announcement when we sign the purchase agreement,” he said. Bautista did not identify the aircraft manufacturer, but he earlier said the company was looking at either Airbus 350 or Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Bautista said the purchase contract would amount to about $1 billion, consisting of six long-range, twin-engine wide-body jets, aircraft parts and support equipment.
“It’s an ultra long-range aircraft that can fly non-stop from Manila to New York. The airplane can be used to other destinations also,” Bautista said.
PAL has been using Boeing 777-300 ERs for Manila to New York flights since October last year. It replaced Airbus A340s for the route.
“The Filipino passengers like it [Boeing 777]. It’s a new plane,” he said.
PAL also uses Boeing 777 in operating daily flights to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto and London.
Asia’s first airline, which is aggressively expanding to international destinations, launched flights to Port Moresby in October and Cairns, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand last year.
PAL is scheduled to mount flights from Manila to Dubai to Kuwait on Jan. 17.
Bautista earlier said PAL would spend $500 million to acquire seven brand-new aircraft this year as part of a refleeting program.
He said he expected to take delivery of five Airbus 321s and Two Boeing 777s this year that would be used for regional and long-haul destinations.
The airline, now wholly-owned by tycoon Lucio Tan after he bought back a 49-percent stake that San Miguel Corp. purchased from him in 2012, posted a comprehensive income of P6.55 billion in the first nine months of 2015, up from P169.1 million in 2014.
PAL Holdings attributed the sharp increase in comprehensive income during the period to strong revenues, which rose 10.8 percent to P81.98 billion from P73.98 billion from 2014.
PAL’s passenger revenues rose 12.5 percent to P68.37 billion in the first nine months of 2015 from P60.78 billion a year earlier.