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PAL Returns New A330



26 March 2015

After cancelling five orders for Airbus A330-300 aircraft last year flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) ha announced last week that it will be returning five A330-300 aircraft to lessors before the end of the year.

PAL president and COO Jaime B. Bautista said during the corporate board meeting held earlier this week that the new planes that will be returned to German lessors are the mono class A330-300 model currently used in the Middle East as it cancels future plans of expanding further in the Gulf region.

The eight single class A330-300s were ordered by Philippine Airlines in 2012 for Middle East operations. The airline has since flown to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, and Dammam. Plans to fly Doha, Jeddhah, Muscat and Kuwait fizzles as the airline adopts new strategy amidst changing economic conditions.

PAL entered into first Purchase Agreement with Airbus in 2012 for firm order of 10 A330 and 44 A321 aircraft with options for 20 A321 NEO aircraft for delivery in fiscal years 2014 to 2020. It signed a second purchase agreement for another 10 set of A330-300 for delivery in fiscal years 2014 to 2016.

Bautista said it posted profits of $50 million for January and February this year due to fleet rationalization plans.

PAL had first contemplated adjusting delivery schedule in October last year, with Mr. Bautista saying at that time that “there were too many orders from Mr. Ang’s management. We have too many A330's and A321's with nowhere to fly to... We really have to check if the market we’re servicing now requires all these planes.”

Mr Bautista previously said last year that they are "offloading" the single-class aircraft as it sees more need of the dual-class A330s, more so that they won't be opening new routes to the Middle East anytime soon.

Earlier this year, PAL deferred delivery of 38 Airbus A321 jets until 2024 from delivery time frame until 2020.

Bautista said that savings from the cancelled leases will be used to finance new orders for long haul aircraft to replace the A340-300 which will be announce soon. They are expected to fly the Philippine skies by 2020.

The airline is currently evaluating both the A350-900 and the Boeing 787-1000 for its long haul requirements complimenting the triple seven. The company however is holding its card tight as to future aircraft orders. There was no mentioned of the B777X program but Bautista said that a pair of brand new Boeing 777-300ERs will be added to the fleet soon for long haul flights to North America, its most profitable market.

15 comments:

  1. i can't wait for the new 777's!

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  2. Make that 5 Airbus A330-300 7 abreast for premium economy class and 8 abreast for economy class.

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  3. this is no good! Can't PAL make PALexpress their secondary cities carrier? PAL should look the relationship between cathay and dragon..

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    1. Pal express will return to hybrid budget carrier( with limited premium seats and frills)

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  4. why pal is giving up on Mideast? Ceb is gaining foothold there why not compete? RA may not be classy with the new planes but he's got balls I could say..

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    1. Ceb is not gaining foothold, they have cancelled some flights there already.. most of ceb's pax(w/c ranges from 30 -50pax) were transferred to PAL flights.

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  5. Philippine Airlines taking over manila dubai from pal express then returning these aircraft to its lessor for me is a good move by pal. As a legacy carrier, you must create a brand that is not confusing to the passenger. Pal express should focus more on re opening inter city routes like what they did with its Cebu hub. That way they can increase their presence in the country and capture some of the traffic that ceb seems to dominate.

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  6. Great decision by PAL! I am hopeful that the 3-class A330 becomes the backbone of PAL regional fleet. great news on the additional 77W's, I hope they decide on the long haul plane soon

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  7. PAL has 13x A330-300HGW now. If they return the 5x A330, then that will leave 8x of which 3x are the 414-seat version and 5x are the 368-seat 3-class version. Can anybody confirm this?

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    1. this includes two A330 wet leased on PAL Express, so that brings a total of 15 A330s. Once they return five of them, there would be 10 A330s left in the fleet; 7 bi-class and 3 of the mono-class

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  8. Hoping that it will not going to be 10 abreast for Airbus A350, unlike the long waited Airbus A330-300s having 9 abreast during Ang era..

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    1. We never know! A350 is a wide plane but not as wide as the 777 and we can expect (but it's VERY unlikely) for the A350 to have a 10-abreast layout. But I can see that the new management is looking at newer innovative ways to lure back customers like improving management styles and there's a really big possibility for a wider economy seat in an A350 in 9- abreast layout.

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    2. Right. Ever since the return of Tan, PAL has been flying bi-class A320s to my hometown

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  9. I love flying for PAL. I just wish they got more room and PTVs on all their aircrafts. The new A330s is a very nice aircraft but the cabin is really really tight. Did i mention its really tight! It has almost the same amount of seats as there 777, and the 777 is a bigger aircraft. I dont mind flying in there A330s from hong kong to manila but any further than that is torture. There 777s are nicer but the room is tight also especially flying from toronto to manila. I just wish they went with a 3-3-3 configuration instead of the 3-4-3 they have. Theyre goin to keep these aircrafts for 25years might as well invest in a good cabin layout that will make theyre customers comfortable for their flights. Other than more space and a better IFE system with PTVs. PAL has great service, the flight attendants are always very nice and helpful. The food is good also, they even serve food between toronto to vancouver. Its true when they say ur home in the sky. Whenever i fly PAL i already feel like im closer to getting back home in the philippines.

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