Surge in travel, tourism lifts PAL Holdings 9-mo income to P 6.76B

The operator of flag carrier Philippine Airlines Inc. (PAL) registered a net profit of P6.76 billion as of September, supported by robust growth in its passenger and cargo revenues amid the recovery of air travel and tourism activities.

The latest financial report by PAL Holdings Inc. on Friday showed that it had erased the P21.93-billion net loss in the same nine-month period last year.

For the third quarter alone, the listed company managed to book a P3.21-billion income, a reversal of last year’s net loss of P5.28 billion.

“We are thankful for the strong support of our customers, shareholders, partners and personnel that enabled us to achieve this third straight quarter of positive operating results, despite the continuing global economic and geopolitical challenges,” Stanley K. Ng, president of PAL, said in a statement.

Passenger revenues

Nine-month consolidated revenues tripled to P97.77 billion from P32.16 billion a year ago as passenger revenues skyrocketed by 265.3 percent to P79.52 billion.

Revenues from the cargo segment climbed by nearly 21 percent to P10.74 billion from P8.91 billion last year. Ancillary revenues for the period, meanwhile, were up more than fivefold to P7.48 billion from previous year’s P1.48 billion.

With more flight activities, PAL saw its expenses double to P85.54 billion in January to September from P42.75 billion in the same period last year. The costs were mostly for the flying operations, maintenance and aircraft and traffic servicing.

PAL said it would continue to expand its flight capacities to cater to the resurgence of both business and leisure travels.

Cielo Villaluna, spokesperson for PAL, told the Inquirer previously that an increase in passenger numbers was anticipated by mid-October up to January. The flag carrier projects the restoration of 86 percent of its prepandemic flight capacity by December.

It is set to provide more flights to several domestic destinations, including Puerto Princesa, Cebu, Iloilo, Caticlan and Tacloban.

Prepandemic levels

Villaluna said that North America and Australia flights would achieve prepandemic levels before the year ends. Southeast Asian network is seen registering 97-percent recovery in the last quarter while flights to the Middle East have been operating above the prepandemic frequencies.

“We at [PAL] will remain steadfast in carrying out our mission of service, bridging our islands and connecting our homeland with the rest of the world, for the benefit of tourism, trade and the Filipino people,” Ng said. INQ