PAL sees higher profits this year

MANILA, Philippines - Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) expects 2015 to be a more profitable year compared to a year ago amid rising passenger traffic and lower fuel costs.

PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista told reporters the carrier expects to have a more profitable business this year than last year as it benefits from the growth in passenger traffic.

“We’re looking at six to seven percent growth in traffic (for the industry) and in terms of profitability, it’s quite positive for PAL,”he said.

Bautista said the declining prices of fuel should also help drive higher profits for PAL this year.Global prices of fuel have been falling since last year due to increasing supply.

The ability to operate new planes to the US, is likewise seen to support higher profits.“We will be more profitable compared with last year,” Bautista said. Last year, PAL’s parent firm PAL Holdings Inc. recorded a net income of P129.74 million, reversing a net loss of P11.85 billion in 2013.

Revenues surged 80.3 percent to P100.95 billion last year from P55.98 billion in 2013.

Net earnings of PAL Holdings reached P3.78 billion from January to March, a reversal of the net loss of P931.13 million incurred in the same period last year.

Total revenues went up 28.7 percent to P27.86 billion in the first quarter of the year from P21.65 billion in the same period last year amid positive passenger revenue performance.

Passenger revenues grew 29.3 percent to P23.13 billion in the first three months of the year from P17.89 billion in the same period last year after flying close to three million passengers.