PAL eyes new Boeing aircraft

MANILA, Philippines — Flag carrier Philippine Airlines is eyeing to acquire new airplanes from American aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing to replace those it would be retiring soon.

PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista said the company is in talks with Boeing for the potential order of two Boeing 777X.

“We don’t have a plan yet, but we are in discussions with Boeing. Of course, Boeing wants to sell the airplanes so they are in discussions with us, informing us of the features of the airplane, just in case we become interested to replace the old triple sevens,” he said.

Bautista said PAL currently has 10 Boeing 777 in its fleet, two of which were acquired in 2008.

“So by 2020, this will be 12-year old airplanes so Boeing would like us to replace these airplanes with the new 777X,” he said.

Aside from the two Boeing 777 aircraft acquired in 2008, Bautista said PAL would not be retiring any of its Boeing planes anytime soon.

PAL earlier said it is taking delivery of six new airplanes for 2019, which are composed of two Airbus A350, two A321neo, and two Bombardier Q400.

Bautista said PAL still has an outstanding undelivered orders of 13 A321neo planes for delivery until 2022.

He said delivery of those for next year may be pushed back as the airline is still trying to identify which flights they will use them for.

“No problem with Airbus, but of course we will look for destinations where we will fly these airplanes considering that it’s difficult to get slots in Manila. That’s why we are reviewing our orders on when we will decide on the delivery of the next orders,” Bautista said.

PAL, the country’s only four-star global airline, has a network covering more than 30 domestic and 40 international destinations with a young fleet of 98 advanced-technology aircraft.

PAL Holdings Inc., the operator of the flag-carrier, is hoping to return to profitability this year after two consecutive years of net loss due to “high operating costs and very stiff competition.”