Philippine Airlines expects the delivery of two long-range wide-body twin-engine jet airlines in the fourth quarter, a top executive said Wednesday.
PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista said one Boeing 777-300 ER would be delivered in October and another in December.
Bautista said Boeing 777 would be used for its long-haul flights. PAL uses Boeing 777 in operating daily flights from Manila to New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto and London.
The airline also plans to expand its presence in Europe and is studying flight to four more cities including Amsterdam in the Netherlands; Hamburg in Germany; Rome in Italy; and Paris in France. It now flies to London.
PAL has six Boeing 700-300 ER.
The airline received its sixth Airbus A321 in August and expects two more jets in October and November.
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, earlier signed a deal with Airbus to acquire six A350-900 jets worth $1.8 billion, with an option to buy six others to support long-haul operations.
PAL plans to deploy the A350 XWB (extra wide body), which seats more than 300, on new routes to North America and Europe. The first A350 is scheduled for delivery in 2018.
PAL’s parent company PAL Holdings Inc. earlier reported a comprehensive net income of P4.62 billion in January to June, down from P5.94 billion in the same period last year.
PAL Holdings said comprehensive income in the second quarter amounted to P1.92 billion, down 11 percent from P2.16 billion last year.
Revenues in the six-month period reached P57.57 billion, up 2.3 percent from last year’s P56.28 billion. Total earnings in the second quarter amounted to P28.45 billion, compared to P28.30 billion a year ago.