PAL eyes opening of second European destination in 2017

FLAG carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) may add a new destination in Europe next year in line with its commitment to grow its network in the continent after a safety ban was lifted in 2013, its top official said.

PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista revealed the plan in a video interview with website asiatraveltips.com that was published last week.

Bautista said the carrier was “in the process of finalizing a decision to fly to a second destination in Europe.” Bautista, who did not reply to an Inquirer request for further comment, said the route would be launched “most probably in 2017.”

He, however, did not reveal the target destination. If plans push through, it would mark PAL’s next move in Europe after reviving its Manila-London service in 2013.

Earlier, the flag carrier said it was studying various possible routes in Europe, such as the Netherlands, France and Italy. The continent remains a viable market given its large population of Filipino residents and workers, apart from the growing trade links between the Philippines and these countries.

The government estimated that there were more than 850,000 Filipinos either living or working in Europe.

Expansion in Europe has taken a backseat in recent years, following a shareholder restructuring at PAL in 2014 and the restoration of its category 1 status by the United States Federal Aviation Administration in the same year.

This shifted the carrier’s resources to flights to the US, which remains among PAL’s most lucrative routes.

Think tank Capa-Center for Aviation said PAL had placed its European ambitions in the backburner “given intense competition from Gulf carriers.”

This type of competition is limited to its operations in the US, it said. This, however, could change once rival Cebu Pacific Air starts flights to Honolulu, Hawaii possibly in the second half of 2016.

Nevertheless, the growing passenger traffic and falling fuel costs, usually an airline’s biggest operating expense, has significantly improved the profit outlook for many carriers across the globe, the International Air Transport Association said earlier.

Bautista said in the interview that PAL was likely to report a “modest profit” for the full-year 2015. He said the carrier would also continue to expand its presence in the country and abroad.

“We just embarked on a program to make Philippine Airlines a five-star airline—right now it is only a three-star airline,” Bautista said, adding that efforts would mainly zero-in on improving customer service.