Lucio Tan-owned premiere carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) is expecting to receive 22 new Airbus aircraft from 2025 to 2029 as it gears its efforts to renew its fleet and enhance capacity in order to accommodate the booming demand for air travel.
In a media conference Tuesday, April 2, PAL Officer-in-Charge and Executive Vice President-General Counsel Atty. Carlos Fernandez shared that nine A350-1000 and 13 A32neo (new engine option) aircraft will be delivered intermittently in the next five years.
The A350-1000s, which can fly 380 passengers with its tri-class layout, was described by Fernandez as "the world's most modern and efficient widebody aircraft with the longest range." They will be deployed for non-stop flights to North America and other foreign destinations.
Meanwhile, the A321neos will be used for regional flights to Asia and Australia.
"We are also retrofitting the cabins of 18 A321ceos (current engine option) with new seats and new inflight entertainment systems. These will start to operate in the first half of 2025," said Fernandez.
PAL currently has a fleet size of 78. Christoph Gaertner, Vice President of Network Planning of PAL, said they are looking at having 79 aircrafts by the end of the year as they anticipate the delivery of another Boeing 777 aircraft this summer in time for the inaugural Manila-Seattle flights.
Moreover, PAL Chief Finance Officer (CFO) Anna Bengzon remarked that 80 percent of their total capital expenditure this year, which amounts overall to $450 million, will be allocated to aircraft-related operations including refurbishments, maintenance, upgrades, and delivery payments.
PAL President and Chief Operating Officer Capt. Stanley K. Ng noted that the pandemic issues are still being experienced by the airline, particularly problems pertaining to the supply chain.
A major hurdle is the continuing Pratt and Whitney (P&W) maintenance operations that have previously grounded eight of PAL's planes. Now, Ng said they have five grounded aircraft.
This has prompted the airline to reduce frequencies of flights, which "sacrificed a lot of revenues," said Ng.
"That's the main one, the P&W. Last year, it's supposedly better now. However, they found another issue with the powdered metal. Now they're just trying to be safe. They have to do the inspection of the engines more frequently. That's why our hangars are full," he remarked.
"It's hard to grow when you have those issues. Since last year, we tried to really have a spare for every type of aircraft to make sure we can maintain our schedule reliability. It's costly, however, with the passengers in mind, we have to be reliable and on-time," Ng added.
He also expressed the airline's interest in exploring new route options, but stressed that they are focused on beefing up their fleet first.
"We will have to wait for our new airplanes to come in before launching [new routes], because we also want to make sure that we can serve our passengers with reliability. We don't want to add a lot of destinations too soon," Ng said.