Philippine Airlines orders 7 planes for $235 million

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Airlines (PAL) will buy 7 planes from Canada’s Bombardier as part of an effort to regain its dominance of the growing air travel market, the carrier said Tuesday, June 20.

PAL said it sealed the deal for 7 Q400 turboprops, worth $235 million at list prices, at the Paris Air Show.

The carrier aims to increase its fleet serving smaller islands in the archipelagic nation.

“We used to be the only carrier in the Philippines. We used to be the dominant domestic player,” a statement quoted PAL president Jaime Bautista as saying in Paris.

However the rise of budget airlines starting in the late 1990s eroded PAL’s market share. Upstart Cebu Pacific eventually overtook it to become the Philippines’ largest carrier. (READ: Cebu Pacific to buy 7 Airbus jets for $812 million)

“The management of Philippine Airlines believes we should get back the market share we used to own,” Bautista said.

The new 86-seat Q400s and other types of narrow-bodied aircraft would enable PAL to do that, he added.

The acquisition of the 7 Q400s would be on top of 5 Q400 planes worth $168 million which PAL ordered last December but which have not yet been delivered.

PAL, which has a fleet of 81 planes, already operates 5 Q400s and 4 smaller Q300 aircraft from Bombardier. These service airports that cannot handle wide-bodied planes. (READ: PAL to start flying nonstop to 7 Middle East destinations in March) – Rappler.com