Philippine Airlines is spending $500 million to acquire seven brand-new aircraft next year as part of a re-fleeting program, its chief executive said over the weekend.
“Some will be leased, but the value of the reflecting program may be more than half a billion US dollars. That’s the fleet value that we will take next year,” PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista told reporters.
Bautista expects to take delivery of five Airbus 321s and two Boeing 777-300s next year. The aircraft would be used for PAL’s regional and long-haul destinations.
“The financing of the airplanes will not be a problem. There are many companies who will be willing to finance us, especially if you are a profitable airline,” he said.
Bautista added the company completed the delivery of five A321s for the year.
The PAL executive earlier said the airline planned to sell its A340s and replace with either A350s or Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a long-range, twin-engine wide-body jet.
“We are in the process of evaluation because we can only operate one-type of additional long-haul aircraft. Right now, we are operating B777 and A340 and when we phase out the A340, we will replace this with only one-type of aircraft. So, it’s either A350 or B787,” he said.
Bautista said PAL would made the decision on which aircraft to acquire within the year.
PAL currently operates six Airbus 340-300s for long-haul destinations. The A340 is being used on the new route to New York via Vancouver.
Besides A340, PAL uses six Boeing 777-300ERs in operating daily flights to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto and London.
The airline, which is aggressively expanding its international destinations, plans to fly to Port Moresby in October and Cairns, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand on Dec. 2, 2015.
PAL’s parent firm, PAL Holdings Inc., earlier reported a consolidated total comprehensive income of P5.94 billion in the January-to-June period, up 1,500 percent from just P362.4 million year-on-year.
PAL Holdings posted a total comprehensive income of P2.16 billion in the second quarter, up 49 percent from P1.45 billion on year.
Total revenues in the first half totaled P55.95 billion, up 14 percent from P48.95 billion on year. Revenues in the second quarter reached P28.09 billion, up 2.9 percent from P27.23 billion.
Tobacco tycoon Lucio Tan last year bought back a 49-percent stake in PAL that San Miguel Corp. purchased in 2012.
