PAL maintained first-quarter profit despite Mideast woes
Philippine Airlines (PAL) emerged from the first quarter relatively unscathed, as sustained travel demand and strong cargo yields lifted net income by 2.6 percent to $78.55 million.
In a disclosure on Tuesday, the flag carrier said its first-quarter performance remained “solid.” This, despite the latter part of the period being weighed down by the impact of the conflict.
Total revenues rose 9.7 percent to $895.7 million, driven by across-the-board increases in passenger, cargo and ancillary revenues.
Passenger revenues climbed to $759.65 million and cargo revenues rose to $43.21 million.
Meanwhile, ancillary revenues reached $83.56 million.
PAL said the growth was supported by strong postholiday travel demand. This pushed first-quarter passenger traffic up 6.1 percent to 4.3 million.
“Our first quarter results reflect both the strength of demand for Philippine travel and the disciplined execution of our team,” said PAL president Richard Nuttall.
PAL has an extensive Middle East network covering Dammam, Doha, Dubai, Kuwait and Riyadh.
The firm was among the worst hit local carriers during the wave of airspace closures that disrupted flights across the region for much of March.
Despite this, PAL still increased the number of flights it operated by 8.4 percent in the first quarter.
While the carrier was largely spared from prolonged flight disruptions, it still absorbed the impact of soaring jet fuel prices.
Total operating expenses rose 7.1 percent to $793.85 million, with flying operations—the airline’s largest cost—climbing 9.2 percent to $447.08 million.
PAL said this reflected “higher flight activity, late-quarter fuel price pressures linked to developments in the Middle East, and increased depreciation and amortization from fleet expansion.”
