PAL weighs choice of aircraft for 5 add’l planes worth $1 billion
AUCKLAND, New Zealand – The Philippines will decide before Christmas from which manufacturer it will buy the additional five airplanes estimated to be worth over $1 billion. It is a toss between Toulouse-based Airbus and Seattle-based Boeing.
Airlines (PAL) President Jaime J. Bautista disclosed to Manila Bulletin that PAL Board is scheduled to decide on December 21.
Bautista said the acquisition is part of the modernization and expansion of its offshore operations.
If the choice is Airbus, Bautista said, the aircraft will have to be A350s, and 878s if Boeing gets the contract.
"We are in the middle of modernizing our narrow-bodied and mediumrange aircraft. Very soon, we will announce our choice of replacement for our long-range fleet," he said. A new airplane costs roughly $200 million.
Bautista told the Manila Bulletin that 20 percent of the $1-billion expansion program budget will be from internally generated funds while 80 percent will be bank financing.
"We have reviewed our mission and vision. And the strategic plan is to expand our operations," he explained. The new airplanes will be used for PAL'S trans-Atlantic operations.
Currently, PAL uses 76 modern jets to service 39 international and 30 domestic destinations.
PAL Senior Vice President for Operations Ismael Augusto Gozon said the flag carrier needs to "level-up" its existing fleet to "be at par" with other international carriers.
The modernization program is also designed to enhance an aircraft's rate of utilization which, in turn, will further beef-up PAL's bottomline going forward.
Should plans go according to schedule, Gozon said the delivery of the new airplanes will be over the next five years, starting sometime in 2017 or 2018.
On the expansion of its routes, Bautista disclosed PAL will fly threetimes a week to Papua New Guinea with the maiden flight scheduled on December 18.
This will serve some 30, 000 Filipinos in Papua New Guinea.
The Cebu-Los Angeles (LAX) route is also slated to open in the first quarter of 2016. This additional route is part of the diamond anniversary celebration of the flag-carrier, which will turn 75 on March 15, 2016.