PAL projects up to 7% hike in passenger volume

Last year, the PAL group, composed of PAL and PAL Express, carried 12 million passengers to international and domestic destinations – 7.1% higher than its 2013 total of 11.2 million.

“There was growth last year. Because we have taken delivery of more airplanes, especially in the last quarter of 2014. We should be able to grow including domestic and regional markets,” PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista said.

The PAL group has an existing fleet of 73 aircraft, mostly made by Airbus.

The flag carrier has a contract with Airbus for the delivery of an additional 38 new aircraft that it has deferred from 2020 to 2024 at no additional expense.

Of the 38 expected aircraft, PAL is expected to receive 5 new planes this year and 5 more in 2016.

The airline has also sold about 20 aging aircraft, including its fleet of old Boeing 747s, replacing them with brand new Boeing 777s. (READ: Clipping PAL’s ‘too many wings’)

Bautista laid out PAL’s short-term expansion strategy, saying: “Basically, we will fly to the same destinations that we are flying to, but we may fly to new destinations.”

PAL is set to resume its New York service this March.

The legacy carrier also has existing seat entitlements to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, and Spain, Bautista played down an immediate expansion in the European market.

“We have all these entitlements but at this time we would like to be conservative. There many other airlines that have more frequencies there,” Bautista said.

So far, new flights to Jinjiang, China and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea have been confirmed. – Rappler.com