Flag carrier Philippine Airlines will reduce the number of aircraft deliveries from Airbus this year and defer the delivery of the remaining orders in 2020 to 2024.
PAL president Jaime Bautista said the airline is working with Airbus on the deferment. “We have agreed in principle. We’re glad that the negotiation is without penalty,” Bautista added.
PAL was scheduled to receive 10 Airbus A321s this year out of its 64 orders, but Bautista said the airline is working on the delivery of only five while the remaining five will be delivered sometime in 2020.
Two of the five A321s to be delivered this year will arrive in March, another two in April, and one in May. Delivery of the remaining aircrafts will be deferred to 2024.
Before the Lucio Tan (LT) Group bought back its stakes in the airline, PAL was under the management of San Miguel Corp.’s Ramon Ang, which ordered 64 A321s and wide-body A330s from Airbus for U$7 billion as part of a fleet modernization program.
The new management under Bautista is now reviewing the programs implemented by the previous management. PAL, under SMC, underwent revamp geared toward expanding its routes, starting with a 2013 agreement to acquire at least 64 planes from Airbus. In late 2013, the carrier resumed flights to London and in July last year expanded a code-sharing agreement with Etihad Airways.
Bautista said PAL will follow a short-term plan by the LT Group that includes flying to Jinjiang in China and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea.
PAL is also set to resume flights to New York in March 15, almost a year after the U.S. Federal Aviation Agency lifted its ban on the airline.
However, Bautista said PAL has no plans to expand its destinations in Europe and the U.S. It currently flies to London, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Guam, and Hawaii.
