The Philippine Airlines (PAL) on Monday bared a sanguine view on growth this year no matter the economic headwinds in global markets and their impact on travel and leisure activities.
“The Philippine Airlines Group is optimistic about the long-term growth prospects of the Philippine aviation sector and the national economy,” Cielo Villaluna, spokesperson of PAL said.
“While we are aware of potential economic headwinds in global markets, we remain focused on growing our route network and our fleet progressively to meet market demand and support the tourism industry,” she added.
Vilaluna said both PAL and PAL Express are committed to continuously improve passenger service and operational efficiency through digital transformation and greater connectivity at its hubs in Manila, Cebu and Davao.
“We are beefing up the recruitment of pilots, cabin crew and customer care staff to support the arrival of additional aircraft, including the long-range Airbus A350-1000s joining our fleet next year,” she said.
“As always, we will work closely with government authorities and industry partners so that we can better serve Filipino travelers and citizens from the various countries in our global network,” Villaluna added.
PAL earlier reported net income of USD348 million (P19.2 billion) in the first nine months of the year, higher compared to USD133 million (P7.2 billion) in 2022.
Its operating income totaled USD444 million (P24.6 billion) over nine months last year, compared to USD212 million (P 11.5 billion) in 2022.
The airline carried 11 million passengers during the period, improving on the 6.4 million carried in the same period in 2022.
In the third quarter alone last year, PAL carried four million passengers, up 54 percent from only 2.6 million flown in the year before.
The airline previously announced the acquisition of nine Airbus A350-1000 long-range aircraft with a list price of USD3.2 billion (P176.6 billion) to be deployed in the Manila to North America and Europe routes.
In addition to an extensive network to 33 domestic destinations, PAL operates the largest network of nonstop flights from the Philippines to North America, Japan, the Middle East and Australia.
