PAL Q1 results better than expected

MANILA, Philippines — Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) continues to gain momentum with a “better than expected” first quarter results, as its domestic capacity soaring to 80 percent of pre-pandemic level, and international capacity to around 60 percent.

“It’s really very encouraging, the results of the first quarter, which we will release soon. It was better than expected,” PAL president and chief operating officer Stanley Ng said.

Ng said PAL is looking to inch closer to its pre-pandemic revenue of $3 billion with a revenue projection of $2 billion for this year.

PAL was able to return to profitability last year following its successful emergence from bankruptcy, reporting a total comprehensive income of P56.49 billion, supported by consolidated revenues of P58.70 billion.

Ng said PAL could return to its pre-pandemic domestic capacity by the fourth quarter of the year.

“To move forward, we’re looking to restore the pre-pandemic flights. We’re not seeing a V-shape recovery. It will take some time,” he said.

“For the countries that actually opened up already, we’ll actually add more flights as well. We’re looking at actually adding more flights of course in the third and fourth quarter this year. I think we’ll go back to around 80 percent (capacity) by the fourth quarter for the whole network,” Ng said.

PAL signed yesterday a memorandum of understanding with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to promote travel to Singapore.

PAL and STB will commence work on a joint campaign promoting Singapore destinations.

Aside from a joint promotional campaign, passengers of PAL will also be entitled to exclusive boarding pass privileges that provide special deals and promotions across a wide range of tourism establishments in Singapore.

“As we welcome more Filipino travellers back to Singapore, Philippine Airlines is an ideal partner for STB to launch attractive promotions and campaigns,” STB chief executive Keith Tan said.

“Now that fully vaccinated travellers can visit Singapore easily, this partnership is timely and an important part of our tourism recovery efforts. We have an exciting lineup of new experiences and events that await our friends from the Philippines, and we look forward to seeing them in Singapore soon,” Tan said.

PAL is offering base fares to Singapore for as low as $160 round trip.