Philippine Airlines said Friday it booked an operating income of $297.2 million in 2022, its first positive full-year earnings since 2019.
The airline unit of tycoon Lucio Tan registered an operating loss of $98.1 million in 2021, which reflected the severe pandemic-era travel restrictions and operating conditions prevailing that year.
The flag carrier’s total comprehensive income reached $196.9 million in 2022, lower than $1.21 billion which included a $1.44-billion net gain from debt restructuring in 2021.
PAL said the positive performance was consistent for all four quarters of 2022 and was largely a result of rising demand in air travel that followed the easing of travel restrictions and the reopening of borders in most countries.
“We are very grateful for the support of our customers that has enabled us to achieve this positive result amidst a challenging year. Philippine Airlines continues to be on a journey of recovery and renewal, and we will make good use of our resources to improve our services for the benefit of our valued customers. We are even more determined to upgrade our fleet, build more connections to key markets and offer improved products and services,” PAL president and chief operating officer Captain Stanley Ng said.
“We also thank our shareholders, our service partners and our dedicated employee work force whose tireless efforts have led to continuing progress in our recovery journey. We embrace our mission of service and remain committed to work with government and industry partners to help boost the Philippines’ economic and tourism development goals,” he said.
PAL flights achieved an average passenger load factor of 72 percent in 2022, or nearly 30 percentage points higher than the previous year’s 42.6-percent load factor.
The flag carrier flew 9.3 million passengers in 2022, comprising the operations of both the mainline network and PAL Express. This represented an increase of 214 percent from the 2021 carriage level.
Total operating expenses in 2022 amounted to $2.27 billion, up from $960.3 million $1.31 billion in 2021 on increased flights and the impact of rising fuel prices in the world market. Jet fuel costs represent the highest expense item for the airline.
PAL continued to expand its route network in 2022, adding flights to most of its overseas destinations in North America, Asia, Australia and the Middle East, while pioneering economy-boosting and tourism-generating domestic routes such as Cebu- Baguio, Cebu- Borongan and Cotabato- Tawi-Tawi.
PAL inaugurated a historic Manila-Perth nonstop link while reopening multiple routes between the Philippines and points in mainland China this year.
PAL is the only airline operating nonstop flights linking the Philippines to the US and Canada, along with the largest network of flights from Manila to multiple cities in the Middle East, Japan and Australia.