The operator of Philippine Airlines said net loss rose sharply in the first half of the year mostly because of higher operating expenses.
PAL Holdings Inc. said total comprehensive loss jumped 59 percent to P444.78 million in the January-to-June period from P279.79 million year-on-year.
The company booked a comprehensive loss of P243.11 million in the second quarter of the year from a profit of P254.28 million on year.
The country’s flag carrier posted total revenues of P75.13 billion in the first half of the year, up 13 percent from P66.31 billion on year.
“The P8.82-billion growth in revenues was primarily due to the increase in passengers and cargoes carried as a result of increase in number of flights operated as well as improvement in yields,” PAL Holdings said.
PAL Holdings’ total expenses climbed 15.2 percent to P75.57 billion from the previous year’s P65.61 billion mainly due to the increase in flights mounted.
The company attributed the increase in expenses mainly to higher flying operations, aircraft and traffic servicing, reservations and sales and passenger service expenses.
PAL Holdings also attributed the 21.7-percent increase in flying operations over last year’s P33.70 billion to the surge in fuel cost.
PAL’s fuel expenses increased 27.3 percent in the first six months of 2018 as a result of the escalation in the average price per barrel of aviation fuel from $74.99 in 2017 to $91.08 in 2018.
Aircraft and traffic servicing expenses rose 12 percent over the year ago level of P8.76 billion as a result of the increase in number of flights operated during the period.
Funding charges increased to P2.29 billion from P1.59 billion due to the financing of additional six aircraft and other secured loans.