CARGO revenue of Philippine Airlines dropped 0.98% to P5.351 billion in the financial year ended March 2013 from P5.404 billion a year earlier, due to fluctuations in the peso-dollar exchange rate.
Overall, the flag carrier was able to trim losses to P4.133 billion, a 6% improvement from P4.379 billion in the previous financial year January 2011-March 2012, the carrier’s parent company, PAL Holdings Inc. said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.
Passenger revenue, also affected by the exchange rate swings, went down 1.37% to P62.203 billion from P63.066 last year. PAL flew 7.62 million international and domestic passengers during the financial year.
PAL Holdings said if the exchange rate remained at P43.1203 per US$1 instead of the average P41.6379 per US$1.00 this year, revenue from the carrier’s cargo business could have been P137.1 million higher.
Nevertheless, cargo revenues were “better versus the same period the year before as a result of the increase in cargo traffic,” PAL said.
PAL carried 358 tons of cargo per day, with domestic freight accounting for 162 tons and international constituting 196 tons. Freight volume reached 130.75 million kilograms for the whole financial year.
Revenue was down 0.04% to P74.023 billion from the P74.053 billion a year earlier.
Transpacific routes accounted for 32.7% of total revenue while the Asia and Australia operations contributed 50.6%. Domestic operations shared 16.7% of total revenue.
PAL has a fleet of 64 aircraft, 14 of which are owned, and has flights to 31 cities in 16 countries around the world. The flag carrier has five joint service/code share arrangements with other international carriers.
The flag carrier also offers a Rapid Handling of Urgent Shipment (RHUSH), an airport-to-airport cargo service.
PAL said it plans to modernize its fleet, increase regional and international route networks and invest in aviation infrastructure.
On July 12, the European Union lifted the air ban on PAL, and the carrier said it will launch flights to the second-smallest continent by September or October this year, flying initially to Paris, London, Rome and Amsterdam.
