PAL Holdings Inc. registered three consecutive years of losses due to stiff competition and increasing operating costs, a filing with the Philippines Stock Exchange shows Wednesday.
PAL Holdings, according to an audited financial statement for the year ending Dec 31, 2019, recorded a net loss of P10.31 billion in 2019, up 138 percent from a P4.33-billion net loss in 2018.
The company also posted a net loss of P7.33 billion in 2017.
“Stiff competition, matched with ever increasing costs, have caused the PAL Group to incur losses over the last three years,” PAL Holdings said.
The PAL Group, however, has lined up several revenue enhancement programs, cash generation strategies and cost control initiatives to improve the results of operations.
PAL Holding’s consolidated revenues amounted to P154.54 billion last year, up 2.7 percent from P150.48 billion in 2018.
Passenger revenues rose 4.2 percent due to additional frequencies and new routes, which resulted to the growth in passenger numbers, partly offset by lower cargo revenues by 8.2 percent and ancillary revenues by 5 percent.
Cargo revenues suffered a slight setback in 2019 due to reduced demand for cargo transport.
Expenses amounted to P151.66 billion last year, down from P156.46 billion in 2018.
“For 2020, amidst the COVID-19 challenges, PAL and PALex are exploring new sources of income while implementing cost saving initiatives,” the company sad.
“Both airlines continue to prepare for the resumption of flights, although likely on a much-reduced scale of scheduled flights, which will gradually ramp up as demand recovers,” PAL Holdings added.
PAL Group operations were halted since March 15 after the government implemented an enhanced community quarantine to contain the spread of COVID-19.
PAL and PAL Express expect to resume limited domestic and international operations by June 1, 2020.
The flag carrier operates from four hub airports (Manila, Cebu, Clark and Davao) in the Philippines to an inclusive total of 32 domestic destinations and 41 points in Asia, Australia/Oceania, the Middle East, Europe and North America.
PAL operates the country’s only direct air links to mainland US, Hawaii, Canada, New Zealand and Western Europe, as well as to Sapporo (Japan) and Brisbane (Australia).
PAL has a total fleet of 97 as of December 2019.