Philippine Airlines to lease two wide-body aircraft for long-haul flights

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) is set to ink a temporary lease agreement for two wide-body aircraft later this year, following the double-digit growth it reported in passengers for the first nine months of 2023.

According to PAL president and chief operating officer Stanley Ng, the temporary leases will cover two wide-body aircraft, presumably from Boeing, to supplement the carrier’s fleet as one of its planes is set to be returned.

“May lease, temporary leases, dalawa—wide body also, Boeing ata to supplement, because we’re returning one plane eh, so we’ll get two more,” he said in an interview on the sidelines of The Business Manual CEO Awards on Sunday evening.

(There are two temporary leases, wide body also, maybe from Boeing to supplement, because we’re returning one plane so we’ll get two more.)

Ng did not elaborate on the lease agreement, but said that this could come by June or July after a slight delay.

To recall, PAL in June 2023 finalized a purchase agreement for nine A350-1000 long range aircraft with Airbus  to cater to its ultra long haul fleet project from Manila to North America including Canada and the East Coast of the United States.

The carrier reported a P5.4-billion net income in the third quarter of 2023, up from P3.5 billion the previous year, which it attributed to the continuing growth of passenger travel and the expansion of flights across its global network.

It flew 4 million passengers during the quarter, up 54%  year-on-year from 2.6 million passengers the same quarter of 2022.

Its nine-month net income climbed to P19.2 billion from P7.2 billion, as it flew 11 million passengers during the period, up from 6.4 million in 2022. — BM, GMA Integrated News