Philippine Airlines said Wednesday it expects a “strong” recovery this year at it plans to take back some of the aircraft that it abandoned during the Chapter 11 restructuring.
“We are expecting a continuing strong market recovery so there are plans in place to enhance and upgrade our fleet. We’re taking back some of the aircraft we relinquished during the Chapter 11 restructuring. One tri-class Airbus A330 was delivered back to us last January, and we are working on the return of the other airplanes,” PAL director Lucio Tan 3rd said during the company’s 82nd anniversary media luncheon.
PAL and Airbus earlier agreed to defer the delivery of 13 Airbus 321-231 NEO aircraft to between 2026 and 2029 from the original scheduled delivery between 2022 and 2025.
“We are also re-activating more aircraft that we parked during the pandemic, with all of them going back in service between now and the fourth quarter,” he said.
PAL operates 68 aircraft out of its total 75. Tan said the company’s fleet expansion would require “big investments,” and the company is determined to take needed actions to ensure that PAL offers reliable and competitive product that’s responsive to the market.
PAL president and chief operating officer Captain Stanley Ng said the airine posted a “solid performance” last year.
PAL Holdings Inc., the parent firm of PAL, earlier posted a P9.68-billion comprehensive income in the first nine months of 2022, a turnaround from the P27.19-billion loss in the same period in 2021.
“Financially, we are in a better position after the restructuring. For first quarter, we are looking good. For the full year, we are optimistic,” he said.
“We’re giving passengers new and more reasons to fly PAL. So expect that in time flight frequencies will increase. We will create stronger connectivity locally and internationally,” Ng said.
He said PAL was already back to 100 percent of its pre-pandemic domestic flights out of its primary hubs in Manila and Cebu.
“We have expanded our reach to the far corners of Asia and Ocenania, with more flights to more destinations in Australia than any other airline. We are excited to be back flying to mainland China, so we can expect further growth in business and tourism from there,” Ng said.
