Although the pandemic is still wreaking havoc in the aviation sector, flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL)'s parent firm PAL Holdings Inc. managed to cut its losses by 20 percent to P16.56 billion in the first six months of the year, from P20.75 billion in the first half of 2020.

Gross revenues plummeted 51 percent to P18.04 billion from P36.82 billion as the pandemic dampened passenger demand, brought down sales and travel restrictions prompted flight cancellations.

“The COVID-19 outbreak and the measures taken by the Philippine and foreign governments have caused disruptions to PAL’s passenger operations, resulting to temporary suspension and limited operations of its flights both for domestic and international routes,” according to PAL.

However, reduced flights almost halved the flag carrier's operating expenses from P52.16 billion to P26.83 billion in the comparative period.

In addition, manpower costs went down after PAL implemented its retrenchment program earlier this year.

Already, PAL returned two aircraft to lessors last month and postponed the 2020 and 2021 deliveries of its aircraft.

PAL rescheduled the deliveries for 2026 to 2030 instead, at which time travel demand should have recovered.

Todate, PAL’s fleet totals 95 aircraft, most of which - 80 in all, are leased and only 15 are owned.

Total liabilities of the company rose from P296 billion to P300.93 billion as the airline took in more short-term loans and PAL plans to undergo financial restructuring to ensure its viability.