Philippine Airlines now at 92% pre-pandemic capacity

Philippine Airlines (PAL), the country's flag carrier, hopes to sustain strong operations this year as travel returns to pre-pandemic levels, according to its top official.

PAL president and COO Capt. Stanley Ng said the Lucio Tan-owned carrier is now at 92 percent of its pre-pandemic flights.

'We are in the process of rebuilding our network after a very tough pandemic period, and we are now at 92 percent of our pre-pandemic flights,' he said in a press conference in Perth, Australia during the company's inaugural flight.

PAL senior vice president and general counsel Carlu Fernandez said the first quarter 2023 numbers already look good and the airline is hopeful this will be sustained for the rest of the year, barring major headwinds such as another global health pandemic.

The airline ended 2022 on a high note, reporting an operating income of $297.2 million and a total comprehensive income of $196.9 million.

This was PAL's first positive full-year operating income recorded since 2019, as consolidated revenues soared by 112 percent to $2.57 billion last year, up from the previous year's $1.21 billion.

'PAL's positive performance was consistent for all four quarters of 2022 and was largely a result of rising demand in air travel that followed the easing of travel restrictions and the reopening of borders in most countries,' the company said.

'We are very grateful for the support of our customers that has enabled us to achieve this positive result amidst a challenging year. Philippine Airlines continues to be on a journey of recovery and renewal, and we will make good use of our resources to improve our services for the benefit of our valued customers. We are even more determined to upgrade our fleet, build more connections to key markets and offer improved products and services,' Ng said.

Average passenger load factor reached 72 percent for 2022, nearly 30 percentage points higher than the previous year's 42.6 percent load factor.

PAL flew 9.3 million passengers last year, comprising the operations of both the PAL mainline network as well as PAL Express. This represents an increase of 214 percent from the 2021 carriage level.