PAL projects modest gains this year

AGANA, Guam – Top officials of Philippine Airlines (PAL) expressed confidence that the company will be able to meet its financial targets, and even realize "a small profit" in the current fiscal year which ends March 2003.

PAL president and chief operating officer Avelino L. Zapanta said in a press conference here that the nation’s flag carrier, which is under rehabilitation, will be back on track in profitability and may even "exceed expectations."

David Lim, PAL vice president for sales, said the airline is looking at a P500-million profit for this fiscal year which he added was a conservative estimate.

Zapanta said that following a P1.5-billion loss for the last fiscal year, mainly due to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, PAL is now doing much better than expected.

According to him, PAL "suffered a lot less than other airlines because OFWs and balikbayans sustained our operations." He pointed out that PAL had good loads in April and May, the peak of the summer season.

"Right now, the company is slowly making progress and I am sure that with more effort and hard work, PAL will once again return to its glory days of lucrative earnings," Zapanta said.

Top officials of PAL led by chairman and CEO Lucio Tan arrived here last Saturday in the inaugural flight that marked the airline’s return to this US Pacific territory after nine years.

PAL began a weekly service to Guam in the early part of 1991, but poor conditions forced the airline to suspend its Micronesia operations.

Zapanta said PAL is eyeing new markets in other destinations, but added that management is cautious not to jump into radical changes in routes, as the airline may not be able to sustain this financially.

Lim described China as the growth area for the immediate future as far as PAL is concerned. He also mentioned that the market in Australia is starting to build up, and that Europe "is still down the road."

"Slowly but surely, we are planning to open flights to Nagoya in Japan and Beijing in China. But right now we are happy with this long-awaited service to Guam," Zapanta said.

"Our customers in Guam, especially the large Filipino community, have long clamored for our return and we are excited to be back and serve them," he added.

The service will operate three times a week, with departures from Manila every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10 p.m. Arrival at Guam’s Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport is at 4:10 a.m. the following day.

The return flight departs Guam every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 6:40 a.m., arriving in Manila at 8:50 a.m.