MANILA, Philippines – The parent firm of Philippine Airlines (PAL) expects to post profit in the fourth quarter, coming from a net loss in the third quarter, amid anticipated increase in passengers during the holiday season.
PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista told reporters on the sidelines of the 60th Assembly of Presidents of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines that while the carrier expects October to still be a lean month for travel, passenger volume would likely pick up in November and December.
“Half of November is lean (and) half is going to peak, but December will be peak. So, the (fourth) quarter, we’re expecting to be a profitable quarter,” he said.
PAL Holdings Inc. incurred a net loss of P2.01 billion in the third quarter last year, a turnaround from the P247.90 million net income posted in the same period a year ago.
While revenues went up year-on-year in the third quarter, total expenses rose.
Revenues grew six percent to P27.78 billion in the third quarter from P26.21 billion last year.
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Total expenses, meanwhile, climbed 14.9 percent to P29.57 billion in the third quarter from the previous year’s P25.73 billion.
For the January to September period, net earnings of PAL Holdings reached P2.60 billion, down 57 percent from the P6.11 billion a year ago.
Revenues for the nine-month period reached P85.35 billion this year, a 3.5 percent increase from the P82.48 billion in the same period last year.
PAL Holdings attributed the higher revenues to the depreciation of the peso against the dollar from P45.04 per $1 in the previous year to P47.12 per $1 this year.
Total operating expenses for the first nine months grew 8.9 percent to P82.98 billion from P76.21 billion in the same period in 2015.
