Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) plans to raise its spending for fleet expansion and service improvement, as its finances return to steady ground after the COVID pandemic.

For the first semester, PAL Holdings Inc. tripled its profit to P10.89 billion from P3.56 billion a year ago, buoyed by resurgence of demand for air travel here and abroad.

During the period, PAL increased its revenue by more than half to P87.45 billion, mitigating the impact of a 39-percent rise in expenses to P69.85 billion.

With this, PAL president and chief operating officer Stanley Ng said passengers stand to benefit from the recovery of the airline's finances. The carrier committed to make additional investments on fleet and service enhancement moving forward.

PAL will spend at least P176.6 billion for the purchase of nine Airbus A350-1000, considered as one of the most efficient wide-body aircraft. The unit can fly up to 9,700 nautical miles, or about 18,000 kilometers, nonstop.

As such, the airline owned by taipan Lucio Tan wants to explore the addition of European routes and expansion of American services once it starts receiving the A350-1000s by 2025.

Also, PAL will hire new customer care and contact center agents, who will be tasked to respond to complaints and issues faced by passengers.

'The latest positive financial results enable us to build a better, stronger and more agile PAL that creates greater value for our customers,' Ng said.

 

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