The Philippine government needs to extend some form of financial relief to local airlines to help them ride out the current financial storm challenging them at this time of geopolitical uncertainty.
According to Carlos Luis “Carlu” Fernandez, executive vice president and COO of Philippine Airlines (PAL) and currently the chairman and president of the Air Carriers Association of the Philippines (ACAP), local carriers are appealing to the government to provide some relief regarding aeronautical fees, as well as relief and adjustments on jet fuel.
In a brief interview during the recent 60th birthday celebration of former PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna, Fernandez clarified that ACAP’s recent appeal was not merely for a reduction in airport terminal fees imposed on passengers.
What ACAP is requesting, he explained, is financial relief regarding aeronautical fees charged to airlines, which include landing fees, takeoff fees, parking fees and navigation/overflight charges levied by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).
A temporary reduction in aeronautical fees and takeoff and landing fees results in substantial savings to airlines per turnaround in CAAP-managed airports. Different airports, however, charge different rates.
Major hubs like Manila, Cebu and other provincial hubs have different rates.
Fernandez clarified this following earlier reports that ACAP was appealing for a reduction in airport terminal fees. These fees are passed on to passengers, with the higher cost of travel — now P950 per departure — discouraging Filipinos from flying and negatively affecting the profitability of local carriers.
Bud Britanico, PAL vice president for corporate affairs, assured though that PAL flights to Los Angeles remain a profitable route for the flag carrier while flights to Dubai, a major Middle East travel destination for Filipino workers in the Middle and also a major travel hub for destinations to Europe, has stabilized.
The volatility in flight operations for the Middle East, Britanico said, has shifted to Riyadh as the war between the US and Iran remains unresolved.
So far this year, following the start of the US- Iran war, ACAP members PAL, Cebu Pacific and AirAsia Philippines have all posted net losses.
PAL, for the first nine months of this year, has seen a reversal of its P9.88 billion profits recorded in the first nine months of 2025 to a P9.74 billion net loss from January to September this year.
It attributed the loss to a higher fuel cost of $1.02 billion.
Cebu Air, for the first half of this year, also saw a reversal of its P8.97 billion profit recorded in the first half of 2025, to a net loss of P5.89 billion.
The Gokongwei-owned low-cost carrier is set to release anytime soon its nine-month financial performance, which is still expected to post a significant loss.
AirAsia Philippines has not disclosed its net loss for its Philippine operations as its financial performance is reported as part of its parent company, the AirAsia Group.
The AirAsia Group reported for the second quarter of this year a group net loss of Malaysian Ringgit of RM830.5 million or roughly P11.2 billion, citing Philippine operations as one of the main financial drags to the group’s earnings.
A gathering of PALs and newsmen
The chance interview with Fernandez and Britanico was during the memorable 60th birthday of Cielo Villaluna, PAL spokesperson who recently retired from the Lucio Tan-owned airlines, but remains as a communications consultant.
Cielo’s 60th birthday party turned out to be a gathering of PAL executives, pilots, cabin crew, former newsmen and newshen colleagues at the Fable Restaurant owned by well-known furniture designer Kenneth Cobonpue.
Among those who attended Cielo’s party were LT Group’s Michael Tan and his wife Angie, former PAL presidents Jaime “Jimmy” Bautista and Gilbert Santa Maria, PAL director David Ong, Bud Britanico, Gen. Ronnie Ordoyo and former DILG secretary Raffy Alunan.
Aside from her former colleagues at PAL, Cielo also took the opportunity to gather her former colleagues in broadcast media, including Cathy Santillan, Dodie Lacuna and Danny Buenafe of RPN-9; Pia Hontiveros-Pagkalinawan of ABS-CBN and Rico Hizon.
She also reconnected with friends from the print media, including Isabel de Leon of Manila Bulletin, Dax Lucas and Miguel Camus of InsiderPH and Ely Saludar of Bilyonaryo.
Cielo, who lost her father in September this year– former Philex Mining executive Jose Ernesto Villaluna – revealed that she chose to celebrate her 60th birthday upon her father’s insistence that she celebrates her natal day even as he knew that he would not be beside her as she marked her 60th milestone.
The 501’s GOAT
November, it so happens, is also the birth month of the BSP 501 Group’s GOAT or Greatest of All Time, former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando “Say” Tetangco Jr., together with his wife Elma, who treated our group to a specially prepared dinner at Manila Hotel’s Red Jade prepared by Chef Sun Bing.