PAL boasts of most number of international passengers in Q1

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Airlines (PAL) announced that it has carried the most number of international passengers among local carriers for the first quarter of 2011 due to increased demand across all international routes.

PAL’s most traveled destinations in the region are Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong and South Korea, among others. The United States also contributed a large chunk of the airline’s revenues while other sectors added to the carrier’s positive passenger numbers.

The flag carrier said it bested its local competitors in international passenger traffic as it flew a total of 1.06 million passengers – up seven percent from 942,144 passengers covering the same period last year. First quarter figures from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) show that PAL’s inbound passengers stood at 477,039 and outbound, 529,212.

Translated into revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) or the number of passengers multiplied by distance traveled, PAL registered a total of five-billion RPKs for the first three months of 2011. Of this number, 4.25-billion RPKs accounted for PAL’s international traffic, while the balance of 750-million RPKs represent the domestic sector.

Earlier, the authoritative Airline Business magazine ranked PAL as the world’s 61st largest airline. The ranking is based on RPK, which is considered the true measure of airline passenger traffic. For the last two years, PAL recorded an average of 17.8 billion RPKs in the world airline rankings. Its chief local competitor is way behind in 116th place.

Aside from increased passenger demand in the international sector, PAL attributes its first quarter performance to enhanced marketing and promotional strategies and the market’s renewed appetite for travel.