8 October 2014
Incoming PAL President Jaime J. Bautista said the orders to be affected are those scheduled for delivery in 2015 and beyond. Remaining orders scheduled for delivery in 2014, including 3 A330 and 3 A321s are not affected.
PAL also announced that they are deferring plans to
open new routes in Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam in Europe, and instead focus on more profitable routes to North America starting with New York expansion by summer next year.
The airline said that except for London, all their long-haul fleets of Boeing 777 and Airbus 340 will serve North American market.
Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) has confirmed Tuesday that it is talking with Airbus concerning delivery deferrals to some of its forthcoming orders.
Bautista said they have to review the current aircraft orders as they have surplus of short to medium haul aircraft, particularly the A321s with no destinations to fly to, while the remaining A330 is Middle East bound but hounded by overcapacity.
The airline is scheduled to receive 10 A321 aircraft in 2015 and another 10 in 2016 under a purchase order sealed in 2012.
Bautista added that impending orders for long haul aircraft are also put into back burners indefinitely after full control of the airline officially gets back to the Lucio Tan Group in 31 October.
The airline said that except for London, all their long-haul fleets of Boeing 777 and Airbus 340 will serve North American market.
Totally agree with Bautista here.. They have too many short - medium haul planes. They need long haul planes to cope up with the demand in other, long - range markets (North America in particular). Still hoping they would order any of the B748's, B77W's, B788's, A350's, or if they're really in the mood, perhaps the Skymark's 380 or Air India's B77LR's?
ReplyDeleteum, I'll quote this for you, in case you haven't read this line...
Delete"Bautista added that impending orders for long haul aircraft are also put into back burners indefinitely after full control of the airline officially gets back to the Lucio Tan Group in 31 October"
so sorry, no long haul orders...
Just cancel London flights if they don't want to expand in Europe. Just remember that majority of tourist here are coming from Europe according to DOT's statistics.
ReplyDeleteAnd maybe one reason of order deferrals is LT management will back the GE politicking of PAL to have an exclusive GE engine to all fleet regardless of being a gas guzzler engine or not , so rolls-royce and IAE powered aircraft will be gone in the future and deferral of PW1000G powered A321neo orders will likely occur in the few days.
off to a good start for the LT group! very typical cost cutting..kill the gains of Ang and team
ReplyDeleteSo they're deferring (indefinitely) long-hauls orders, just when they need new long-haul aircraft right now, especially since they're launching flights to New York. They must be okay with the A340 then. Oh well, I sure hope they'll refurbish the cabins to make them more acceptable to long haul passengers (seatback IFE on every seat, chargers, etc.). I hope that the Lucio Tan management, and especially Jaime Bautista, doesn't think that passengers these days are willing to put up with long haul flights without a decent (by today's standards) inflight entertainment.
ReplyDeleteIts better that San Miguel Corporation is the one managing PAL, they know Airline business than the LT Group. PAL would have been in better hands with SMC. I feel Sad that SMC has to go
ReplyDeleteI always wondered why RSA bought so many A330's, it does not have the range for Europe or the US. The A321's can replace the older A320's and open more regional routes. I hope they renegotiate with Airbus to buy A350's for long haul instead of the remaining A330's and some of the A321CEO.
ReplyDeleteConvert the remaining A330s orders to A350s and sell and lease back the 10 A321s to replace the aging 320's for domestic and regional flights. Buying or Leasing another 4 to 6 B777W or B777X to replace the A340 and expand or increase flights in the US.
ReplyDeleteThey should retire the a340s i think or atleast refurbish their cabins.. for a 14 to 15hr flight to new york with no AVOD or IFE is just big no no for me.... i have a friend who canceled his PAL flight from Heathrow when he found out that the aircarft he'll be flying is an a340...
ReplyDeletePAL used to fly the B777 to london -manila..
:(