Philippine Airlines (PAL) has so far refunded about 80% of the more than US$300 million (P15.9 billion) in refund requests from passengers whose flights were cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
PAL, in an advisory on September 19, said it has been doing all it can “to cope with the massive deluge of refund requests that we received after the global pandemic forced us to cancel more than 60,000 PAL flights since March 2020, affecting over 1.3 million passengers.”
The airline said revenue losses prevented it from making prompt refund payments, even as lockdown restrictions posed serious staffing and logistical limitations.
PAL reported a total comprehensive loss of P22.02 billion for the first half of 2020, which is 632% higher than its total comprehensive loss of P3.01 billion in the same period last year. The bigger loss came as its operations were severely affected by the worldwide travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
READ: PAL loss in 1H worsens by 632%
The airline said it recognizes that it has taken some time to fulfill all refund obligations and “we greatly appreciate your understanding as we continue to resolve these challenges over the coming months.”
It said it has progressively stepped up its processing capabilities to address the system backlogs.
PAL said it has now restored nearly 15% of its regular domestic and global network and intends to ramp up more flights and more routes in line with an expected easing of travel and quarantine restrictions.
PAL expects a $1 billion or P50 billion loss from February up to the time quarantine restrictions are lifted, company president and chief operating officer Gilbert Santa Maria said earlier.
