MANILA, PHILIPPINES: A Philippine Airlines (PAL) Airbus 330 takes off from Manila. Philippines Airlines —controlled by billionaire Lucio Tan —said Monday it will expand and upgrade its fleet after the flag carrier posted record profits in 2023 amid a post-pandemic travel rebound. The company had signed an order for nine A350-1000 long-haul aircraft from Airbus, valued at $3.2 billion, in June 2023 at the
Paris Air Show. The first aircraft deliveries are expected next year, enabling the airline to beef up its presence in North America and other destinations. PAL said its net profit jumped 92% to $379 million in 2023, bolstered by the continued recovery in air travel. It transported 14.7 million passengers in 2023, up 58% from the previous year, boosting its passenger load factor to 80.8%. “To preserve the gains we achieved, we must not rest on our laurels,” Stanley Ng, PAL president and chief operating officer, said in a statement. PAL’s corporate transformation continues. “We are taking in new aircraft, retrofitting cabins of current aircraft, upgrading airport lounges and introducing more product innovations.” As travel demand returns, PAL had last year resumed flights to more than 10 domestic destinations and introduced thrice weekly flights between Manila and Perth to cater to increasing demand in Australia, one of the carrier’s key markets. It currently has a fleet of 78 aircraft and operates across 33 destinations in the Philippines and 39 overseas routes around Asia, North America and the
Middle East. PAL—Asia’s oldest airline— returned to the black in 2021 after canceling $2 billion in debt, retrenching about 30% of its workforce, and downsizing its fleet. The carrier exited the U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings at the end of 2021, just three months after filing a restructuring plan, helped by fresh capital injection from Tan. Apart from the airline, Tan also has interests in banking, beer, spirits, tobacco and real estate through his publicly listed LT Group. With a net worth of $2.6 billion, Tan ranked No. 10 when the list of Philippines’ richest was last published in August 2023.