PAL reports P11.9-B loss in 9 months

MANILA, Philippines - Losses of the parent firm of national flag carrier Philippine Airlines Inc. (PAL) – jointly owned by taipan Lucio Tan and diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) – ballooned 332 percent in the first nine months of its 2013 fiscal year amid mounting losses from operations.

In a report submitted to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), PAL Holdings Inc. said its net loss reached P11.85 billion in the nine months ending Dec. 31 of Fiscal Year 2013 compared to the net loss of P2.74 billion in the same period of Fiscal Year 2012.

PAL said it booked P5.51-billion losses from operations in the first nine months consisting of P5.09 billion other charges as well as P1.31-billion financing charges.

“The resulted other charges was primarily due to the impairment loss recognized for certain passenger aircraft that have been grounded or identified for retirement within 2014,” PAL stated in the financial statement.

The airline’s total comprehensive loss amounted to P9.12 billion in the first nine months of its Fiscal Year 2013 ending Dec. 31 or P6.38 billion higher than the P2.74 billion loss booked in the same period of its Fiscal Year 2012.

PAL said total revenues was almost unchanged at P55.97 billion in the first nine months of the Fiscal Year 2013 compared to P55.68 billion in the same period the previous fiscal year.

PAL reported that the number of passengers carried fell to about five million from 7.6 million as passengers revenues accounted for about 81 percent of the total revenues.

Passenger revenues slipped three percent to P45.4 billion from P46.8 billion, while cargo revenues grew 13.7 percent to P4.71 billion from P4.14 billion.

Total expenses, rose 5.2 percent to P61.5 billion from P58.43 billion as flying operating expenses including jet fuel costs, went up by 6.7 percent to P36.4 billion from P34.1 billion.

PAL spent P24.25 billion for jet fuel equivalent to 4.4 million barrels of fuel burned during the current nine-month period. Jet fuel prices declined from an average of $131.74 per barrel a year ago to $127.74 per barrel for the current nine-month period.

During the year, PAL operated new flights to London, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Dammam, Brisbane and Guangzhou but also discontinued services to Delhi.

Maintenance expenses increased 6.6 percent to P7.41 billion from P6.95 billion, while aircraft and traffic servicing expenses – consisting mainly of landing and takeoff fees and ground handling expenses incurred at all airports where the planes land-climbed 4.3 percent to P7.26 billion from P6.96 billion.