Philippine Airlines (PAL) reported a net loss of P3.01 billion for the first half of 2019, 355% more than its year-on-year loss of P661.56 million due to higher operational expenses following a change in accounting policies.
Consolidated revenues for the first six months of the year amounted to P81.25 billion, up 8.6% from P74.85 billion, PAL said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.
The airline attributed the increase in revenue to growth in passenger and ancillary revenues as a result of additional flight frequencies and introduction of new routes. Growth was, however, stymied in part by the reduction in cargo revenues of 6.1% to P4.499 billion from P4.789 billion.
Passenger revenues reached P71.135 billion, 8.8% higher than the P65.407 billion earned in the first half of 2018, while revenues from ancillary services rose 20.5% to P5.542 billion from P4.599 billion.
Consolidated expenses increased to P77.75 billion, 3.3% higher than P75.27 billion recorded in the first six months of 2018. PAL said this was driven by increased depreciation due to the impact of a change in accounting policies. Likewise, maintenance costs grew by 7.8% because of additional aircraft deliveries; reservation and sales increased by 14.1% due to more passengers.
PAL chairman and chief executive officer Dr. Lucio Tan, Jr. earlier said the flag carrier expects to see a turnaround by 2020 as it explores outsourcing workers and increasing online bookings.
The airline has been reporting losses since 2017: P4.6 billion for that year and P2.8 billion in 2018.
PAL recently appointed business process outsourcing veteran Gilbert Santa Maria as president, chief operating officer, and director, replacing Jaime Bautista who retired last June. Santa Maria said maintaining the current level of service and achieving profitability are his priorities.
