PAL, sister firms losses widen to P10.2 billion in 2019

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Photo courtesy of PAL

Philippine Airlines (PAL) and its sister companies reported a 259% higher consolidated comprehensive loss of P10.20 billion in 2019 from the P2.84-billion loss in 2018.

Consolidated revenues amounted to P154.54 billion last year, up 2.7% year-on-year on account of higher passenger revenues but partly offset by lower cargo and ancillary revenues, parent company PAL Holdings, Inc. (PHI) said in a regulatory disclosure.

Passenger revenues climbed 4.2% to P134.292 billion in 2019 from P128.910 billion in 2018 due to additional frequencies and new routes which resulted in growth in passenger numbers.

Cargo revenues declined 8.2% to P9.375 billion from P10.217 billion. Revenues from ancillary services likewise decreased 5% to P10.699 billion from P11.262 billion.

Consolidated expenses dropped 3.1% to P151.664 billion from P156.466 billion mainly due to flying operations and passenger service expenses, which were partly offset by higher aircraft and traffic servicing expenses.

Total other charges amounted to P14.07 billion in 2019, up by 873.6% from P1.45 billion in 2018. Financing charges grew 128.4% mainly because of the adoption of a new financial reporting standard and additional aircraft financing. There were also more charges incurred during the year and significantly less one-off gains compared to 2018 when the company booked income from reversal of contingency provision for the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines case, reassessment of the carrying values of asset restoration obligations for certain aircraft and credit memos received from various aircraft manufacturers.

PAL has been reporting a net loss since 2017. Last year, the flag carrier announced it was embarking on digital transformation as a strategy to reduce costs and return to profit.

In 2019, PAL carried 16.756 million passengers and 229.828 million freight kilograms of cargoes. PHI said PAL carried an average of 45,907 passengers per day (23,647 domestic including codeshare with PAL Express, and 22,260 international) and 630 tons of cargo (344 tons domestic and 286 tons international) per day.

As of December 2019, PAL’s route network covered 31 points in the Philippines and 40 international destinations.

PAL’s international and domestic flights in its hubs in Manila, Cebu, and Clark are currently suspended until May 31, 2020 due to the extension of community quarantines in these areas to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). PAL flights have been cancelled since the latter part of March 2020 but continue to operate cargo flights and repatriation flights.

The airline said it is working on plans to operate a few domestic routes from its Davao hub, possibly to Iloilo, Siargao and General Santos, to help support the economic recovery of Mindanao with the easing of quarantine restrictions there.

PAL plans to operate a reduced number of weekly flights on most domestic routes and on selected international routes by June 1 2020, but this will depend on COVID-19 conditions such as community quarantine restrictions, travel bans imposed by various governments and their impact on passenger demand, and public health and safety situation in each of the countries that PAL serves.

“We are coordinating with concerned government authorities and will announce any flight details once finalized,” PAL said in an earlier advisory.

PAL will continue to operate occasional special flights to repatriate stranded passengers and to transport urgent cargo such as medical equipment and supplies to help sustain critical supply chains across the Philippines and on selected international routes.