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MANILA, Philippines — Gone are the days when Filipino food was seen as brown, bland and uninteresting. It now merits a place in the sky, up where fine dining is an exquisite privilege enjoyed by more than 77 million customers a year on board Emirates flights.
MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has deported comedian Pokwang’s former partner, American actor William Lee O’Brian, for illegally working in the country.
MANILA, Philippines — Sunlight Air explained their move to Clark International Airport from Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
DENVER (AP) — A Southwest Airlines jet returned to Denver Sunday morning after the engine cover fell off and struck the wing flap during takeoff, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
MANILA, Philippines —Actress Alex Gonzaga called out Philippine Airlines (PAL) after her husband Mikee Morada's flight was canceled.
Following great annual earnings reports by both Philippine Airlines [PAL 5.70, up 2.1%; 137% avgVol] and Cebu Pacific [CEB 31.65 unch; 388% avgVol], both domestic airlines have pledged to spend a great deal of money to expand networks, buy new planes, and service existing planes. CEB [link] said that it will spend around P50 billion in what it called “mostly aircraft-related capex” which will include the purchase of 16 new planes, to be funded through internally generated funds. CEB expects to grow its capacity by 5% to 8% this year. PAL [link] said that it will spend approximately P25 billion for aircraft and other capex needs, with 80% of that amount going to the refurbishment of its existing A321ceo planes. PAL said that it doesn’t expect to receive any new planes until 2025 (A350-1000s) and 2026 (Airbus 321-231 neos).
Philippine Airlines [PAL 5.55, down 0.9%; 29% avgVol] [link] reported a FY23 net income of P21.2 billion, up 105.5% from its FY22 net income of P10.4 billion. Full-year revenues were up 29% to P179 billion, outpacing a 23.9% increase in operating expenses to P122 billion. The increases were driven by “the rising demand for air travel”, as evidenced by the 5.37 million increase in PAL’s FY23 passenger volume to 14.7 million and an increase in PAL’s passenger load factor from 72.0% in FY22 to 80.8% in FY23. Flights operated were up 36% to 105,294. The $379 million in net income (PAL’s operating currency is US$) was the highest in PAL’s history (excluding one-off restructuring benefits).
Cebu Pacific [CEB 32.00, up 3.2%; 195% avgVol] [link], the Gokongwei Family’s budget airline, reported an FY23 net income of P7.9 billion, up 156% from its FY22 net loss of P14.0 billion. Revenues were up 57% to P85.1 billion, with the passenger segment up 78% to P62.5 billion and the ancillary revenue segment up 66% to P24.1 billion. Cargo segment revenues were down 42% to P4.1 billion. CEB reported flying 20.9 million passengers (up 41%) on 140,730 total flights (up 30%) in FY23, with a load factor of 84.0% (up from 75.3%). CEB’s average fare was P2,993, up 26.4% from FY22’s average fare of P2,367. Looking ahead to 2024, CEB said that a “return of the global aviation industry to normal growth patterns is expected”, with “international recovery” (mainland China and “traffic rebound”) a major focus for regional airlines in SE Asia. CEB said that it expects to announce the “single biggest aircraft order in the history of Philippine aviation” in the second quarter.