Philippine Airlines plans to fly to a second destination in Europe next year as it expects delivery of more long-haul jets this year.
“We are in the process of finalizing a decision to fly to a second destination in Europe. So, we are not yet at liberty to announce it. The one that we are looking at for Europe will be operating out of Manila,” said PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista in an interview with Asian Travel Tips.
The second destination in Europe will be in 2017, Bautista added.
Before the Lucio Tan Group bought back PAL, the San Miguel-led management had planned to fly to Paris, Rome and Amsterdam in the fourth quarter of 2013. This was after the European Union removed PAL from a list of countries that fail to meet international aviation standards.
PAL currently flies to London and has entitlements to Germany, Paris, Frankfort, Spain and Amsterdam.
PAL had said it planned to fly seven times a week to the Leonardo da Vinci International Airport or Fiumicino Airport—the largest terminals in Rome.
PAL also said it planned to fly seven times a week to Malpensa Airport in Milan. Italy is home to 170,000 migrant Filipino workers.
Bautista earlier said PAL would spend $500 million to acquire seven brand-new aircraft this year as part of a re-fleeting program.
He said he expected to take delivery of five Airbus 321s and Two Boeing 777s this year that would be used for regional and long-haul destinations.
PAL is set to sign next month a $1-billion contract to purchase six long-range, twin-engine wide-body jets.
The company was looking at either Airbus 350 or Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
The airline, now wholly-owned by tycoon Lucio Tan after he bought back a 49-percent stake that San Miguel Corp. purchased from him in 2012, posted a comprehensive income of P6.55 billion in the first nine months of 2015, up from P169.1 million in 2014.
PAL Holdings attributed the sharp increase in comprehensive income during the period to strong revenues, which rose 10.8 percent to P81.98 billion from P73.98 billion from 2014.
PAL’s passenger revenues rose 12.5 percent to P68.37 billion in the first nine months of 2015 from P60.78 billion a year earlier.