PAL eyes more flights to US, India; starts Beijing route by November

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) will start flying direct to Bejing in Nov. 11 as part of plans to boost revenues and take advantage of the growing tourism market in China.

PAL president Jaime Bautista said the flag carrier will start flying three times a week to the Chinese capital. In China, PAL already flies to Xiamen and Shanghai.

Bautista said PAL is also planning to increase its flights to San Francisco and Los Angeles. It is also studying the possibility of flying to Seattle.

PAL was earlier considering resuming flights to India and European countries to take advantage of the booming information technology industry in India.

Indian call centers currently employ 160,000 professionals, who answer calls from overseas-based customers referred to as an information technology-enabled services and business processing outsourcing (BPO) which accounts for a quarter of all software and service exports from India.

PAL’s flight to India was stopped because foreign flights in 1954 were discontinued upon orders from then President Magsaysay in favor of rural development program.

On the homefront, Bautista said PAL is looking at additional frequency domestic destinations in Cebu, Davao and other major cities where there is a significant market demand.

Bautista said three new A320 jets will arrive in October, November and in February 2006 to serve domestic and regional routes.

These new aircraft will be leased by PAL, he said.

As of end-March this year, PAL had an operating fleet of 30 aircraft consisting of five B747-400s, four A340-300s, eight A330-300s, six A320-200s, three B737-400s and four B737-300s with average aircraft age of 9.01 years.

He said PAL has also implemented an electronic ticketing system in line with efforts to provide better service to the riding public.

From its hub in Manila, PAL serves 43 destinations –18 domestic and 25 international points.

Bautista said the carrier has been up-to-date in the payment of its obligations to creditors.

Last year, PAL made payments for principal and interest to its creditors in accordance with the terms embodied in the amended and restated rehabilitation plan.

From March 1999 to March 2005, PAL paid a total of $1.43 billion to its creditors.

Amid the escalating prices of crude oil, Bautista said he is hoping that PAL could retain the same profit level as last year.

The national flag carrier posted a net income of P1.2 billion for the fiscal year 2004 to 2005 compared with a restated net loss of P643 million the previous level.