The country's premiere airline Philippine Airlines (PAL) Group shared its optimism about long-term growth in the local aviation sector despite current economic headwinds in the global market. 

PAL Spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said in a statement on Jan. 15 that the airline company “remains focused on growing our route network and our fleet progressively to meet market demand and support the tourism industry.” 

"Both PAL and PAL Express are committed to continually improving passenger service and operational efficiency through digital transformation and greater connectivity in our existing hubs in Manila, Cebu and Davao,” said Villaluna. 

As part of their efforts to enhance operational capacity, PAL is expecting the arrival of additional aircraft, particularly the nine long-range Airbus Airbus A350-1000s valued at P176.6 billion or over $3.2 billion, to augment its fleet in 2025. It also has options for three more aircraft for long-range continental flights. 

Along with this, the airline is also recruiting more pilots, cabin crew, and customer care staff to match the manpower required to handle the new aircraft and the increasing demands for air travel. 

“As always, we will work closely with government authorities and industry partners so that we can better serve Filipino travelers and citizens from the various countries in our global network,” Villaluna remarked. 

Aside from the aircraft acquisitions, the airline's service expansion plans also include the extended Mactan-Cebu hub network, codeshare agreements with Singapore Airlines and American Airline, inaugurations of maiden flights from Manila to Perth, Australia; and restored flight services to mainland China. 

For the first nine months of 2023, PAL recorded 11 million passengers, garnering passenger revenues amounting to P120.1 billion or $2.17 billion. It logged a net income of P19 billion or $348 million from January to September last year.