Philippine Airlines eyes Mactan airport space

March 12th, 2008

NATIONAL flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) began negotiations two weeks ago to lease space at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) for a maintenance facility, its first outside Manila.

The flag carrier is eyeing a 6.6-hectare property that it will lease for a minimum of 25 years, PAL president and chief executive officer Jaime Bautista said yesterday.

Philippine Airlines eyes Mactan airport space
Philippine Airlines | photo by cicadajet (Flickr)

On it, PAL will build a hangar and maintenance facility where it will base new additions to its fleet like the Airbus 320 aircraft and the Bombardier Q300 and Q400 turbo-prop planes. PAL’s sister-company Air Philippines uses a recently delivered five-seater A300 to fly the Manila-Caticlan route, and expects to take delivery of another Q300 by March 18.

A third Q300 is scheduled for delivery by late April and may be used for a flight from Cebu to Caticlan, just in time for the increased summer tourism traffic to and from Boracay. PAL expects to receive one Airbus320 next month and four more by November this year.

PAL is also planning to open a Cebu-United States flight service once it takes delivery of new long-haul aircraft in 2010 and after the US has upgraded its international air safety assessment of the Philippines.

Bautista said the plan is in response to “clamor” for a PAL service between Cebu and the United States (US).

The carrier hopes to launch the service, which will probably have a stopover in Inchon, South Korea, in the first quarter of 2010, said Bautista in an interview with the press in Cebu City yesterday.

“The flight will improve service in Cebu,” he said. He added that a group has been studying the possibility of a Cebu-US (California) service for several years but due to lack of planes, PAL has not been able to do it right away.

Re-fleeting

PAL has embarked on a re-fleeting program that includes four Airbus 320s and about three Bombardier Q300 aircraft this year. It will also take delivery of six new Boeing 777-300 Extended Range aircraft starting 2009 to 2011. The Boeings will be deployed for its flights to the US and other transpacific routes.

“By 2011, we will have nearly 50 planes, which is the same level we were at before we submitted for rehabilitation in the 1990s,” Bautista said during the press luncheon the airline hosted. PAL emerged from rehabilitation in September last year.

At present, PAL has about 35 aircraft for all routes.

Bautista said he met recently with the MCIA board to inform them of PAL’s intention to lease a site for its maintenance facility in Mactan, but could not say yet how much the arrangement will cost.

“We want to start on this maintenance facility as soon as possible,” Bautista said. At present, all of the 35 aircraft are based in Manila.

He said he is hopeful the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will upgrade the Philippines air safety status from Category 2 to Category 1 with the passage into law of the Civil Aviation Authority bill.

The FAA downgraded the Philippines’ safety rating after the country’s failure to meet six out of seven criteria. The downgrade hampers PAL’s plans to establish more flights to the US using its new aircraft.

Despite the downgrade, Bautista expressed optimism about growth in the Philippine travel market.

However, Bautista said flying to Europe at this time “will not be profitable” for PAL. Still, he said, the flag carrier will continue to study the possibility of having the service with the delivery of the Boeings.

The Center for Asia-Pacific Aviation named PAL the “Airline Turnaround for the Year 2007,” in recognition of the carrier’s early exit from rehabilitation and improved financial performance.
Article source: Sun.Star Cebu