MANILA — Philippine Airlines will deepen its investments in fleet expansion and service enhancements as the Philippine flag carrier reported a record net income of P13.6 billion and operating income of P17.4 billion for the first half of 2023.
The fleet investments include the purchase of nine Airbus A350-1000 long-range jetliners, valued at more than P176.6 billion based on the list price of US$366.5 million per aircraft.
PAL is increasing customer care and contact center agents, and rolling out a new customer relations management system within 2023 to provide more personalized self-service options for customers.
“We remain steadfast in our commitment to invest in new aircraft, improved cabins, and enhanced travel experience for our valued customers,” said PAL President and COO Capt. Stanley Ng. “The latest positive financial results enable us to build a better, stronger and more agile Philippine Airlines that creates greater value for our customers, and we are grateful for their continuing support and patronage.”
“We are pleased to see that PAL is beginning to realize the benefits of the sacrifices we took over the past few years. PAL is on a recovery track and is now in a position to carry out major product and digital transformation initiatives in order to grow amid a more competitive and challenging aviation industry,” said Lucio C. Tan III, president and COO of PAL Holdings Inc., the airline’s parent company.
PAL’s second quarter 2023 revenues grew by 27 percent to P45.6 billion largely due to higher passenger numbers. Operating income for Q2 increased by 95 percent to P10 billion versus P4.8 billion in Q2 2022.
Accordingly, PAL finished the second quarter with a net income of P8.1 billion, almost tripling the P3 billion income registered in Q2 last year.
For the full first half of 2023, PAL registered the following results:
- The airline carried seven million passengers (an 89 percent increase vs. H1 2022) and operated over 50,400 flights (56 percent more than in H1 2022), logging an 81.6 percent average passenger load factor;
- Passenger revenues rose to P78.2 billion, or P33.1 billion higher than 2022, as demand continues to recover on PAL’s international and domestic routes;
- Cargo revenue dropped 54 percent versus last year, as many cargo charter flights were discontinued to give way to more passenger flights to meet the surge in demand;
- The airline realized an operating income of P17.4 billion versus the P6.6 billion recorded in the first half of 2022.
In addition to an extensive network to 32 domestic destinations served from hubs in Manila, Cebu, Clark and Davao, the Philippine flag carrier operates the largest network of nonstop flights between the Philippines and North America, Japan, the Middle East and Australia. (PR)
