PAL welcomes Aquino's aviation sector proposal

By EMMIE V. ABADILLA
Manila Bulletin
November 22, 2010, 11:42am

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Airlines declared support of President Benigno Aquino III’s vision for "a strong Philippine-based aviation industry."

“We firmly believe this is indispensable to the development of Philippine tourism, trade and economic progress,” confirmed PAL President and Chief Operating Officer Jaime J. Bautista.

PAL has always led the way in promoting RP tourism, by being the most aggressive airline in pioneering new routes, serving key tourism markets, and making necessary investments to put the Philippines on the tourism map as a destination for the world, he stressed.

In 2011, PAL will launch a new route to New Delhi, India, opening up the Philippines to the potentially enormous market of Indian tourists, in the same way that we've done in past years by pioneering new routes from Korea, Japan, China, Canada, and the United States.

PAL is the only airline flying between the Philippines and Canada, Tokyo (to/from Cebu), Western Japan, Las Vegas, Melbourne, and nonstop from the US West Coast - all rich sources of tourist traffic.

The flag carrier flies 2.9 million seats into RP every year, more than any other airline operating to and from the Philippines. It operates more seats and more flights from China, Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the United States to the Philippines than any other airline.

“As the national flag carrier, we at Philippine Airlines will continue to work in partnership with government to attract more foreign visitors from both existing and new markets overseas,” Bautista concluded.

Meanwhile, Philippine Airlines (PAL) posted modest gains of US$28.2-million for the second quarter of its fiscal year (July-September, 2010), amidst uncertainties from a looming fuel price hike and a new case of bird flu in Hong Kong.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), PAL reported revenues of US$399.5 million for the second quarter of fiscal year 2010-11, up by 33% from the same period total of US$299.7 million in 2009.

Despite positive numbers in the last two quarters, PAL President Jaime J. Bautista said he remains cautiously optimistic about the airline's growth prospects.

"The global airline industry remains vulnerable to volatile market conditions. Take fuel, for example. If the upward trend continues, it could wipe out all our recent gains," he noted.

While there was a huge reduction in maintenance expenses by 36% as a result of the company’s cost savings initiatives, fuel costs have gone up as a result of higher jet fuel prices from an average of US$79.06 per barrel for the quarter ended September, 2009 to an average of US$97.73 per barrel for the same quarter period in 2010.