Airlines In The Philippines II

[Evodesire]

Majority of airlines worldwide are ordering more planes left and right. How about PAL?

[frequentflier]

I wonder why they retired 7776 first. To think 7777 is the first 77W to enter service.

[Arianespace]

worst shape than the other

[JNC03]

Sunlight Air is gearing up to replace and expand its ATR Régional fleet over the next few years and more immediately switch its operations and most of its flights from Manila to  Clark International Airport. Sunlight CEO Ryna Brito-Garcia also said she was considering short-haul international flights using regional jets in the medium to long term.

"We're looking at options now," said Brito-Garcia about the short-term ATR fleet plans. "We're exploring options such as buyback arrangements with some companies. There's nothing definite yet, but there is a clear need for Sunlight Air to start growing its fleet." However, the CEO is cautious about growing the fleet too fast. "At this stage, I'm thinking about adding two more aircraft," she said.

Sunlight also plans to replace the existing three aircraft aged between 21.29 and 22.37 years. She says while the ATRs still have many years of flying left in them, they require more downtime and cost more in servicing and repairs as they age. "I'm not just looking at fleet expansion; I am looking at replacing the existing planes with younger aircraft. Financially, it's just a smarter choice, with parts now being one of our biggest costs."

Timeline for locking in the ATR replacements is short. The airline would like to have a decision by the fourth quarter of 2024, arrange to source the aircraft shortly after, and have the replacement aircraft start arriving in 2025. Sunlight Air's current ATRs are company-owned. However, the airline remains open to leasing opportunities.

Longer term, Brito-Garcia is eyeing short haul international operations. "Hopefully, in around five years, we can start flying to some of the regional areas near the Philippines," she said. The short runways on the islands rule out direct flights, but the CEO's tentative plan is to acquire a couple of aircraft, such as A220s, and operate them into Clark from nearby countries such as Indonesia, Taiwan, and South Korea, to connect the passengers onto ATR flights out to the islands.

https://www.ch-aviation.com/news/137903-philippines-sunlight-air-plans-fleet-renewal-and-growth?

[Evodesire]

Korean Air to order 33 A350s. JAL is ordering 32 Airbus A350 and A321N, 10 B787. Thai orders 45 787. Malaysian Airlines may exercise its option for 20 more A330Ns. I wonder if PAL is content with just its 9 A350-1000 orders.

[PAL 747]

PAL almost died back in 1998 as a result of $2 billion (in 1998 dollars) debt (due to over expansion in the middle of the Asian economic crisis) and labor issues. 1998 must have been so traumatizing for PAL that they are too cautious when it comes to expansion. They do have to be more aggressive especially now that the Philippine economy is a lot more different compared to 1998 or even the "glory" days of the 1980s.

PAL is also a poor airline to use if you're connecting flights. In addition to the substandard facilities at MNL, the timings are not ideal for travellers (i.e. Japan/Korea/China to Australia and vice versa. The timings for SE Asia and N. America are barely tolerable). If PAL wants to become the likes of Cathay, EVA Air, or Singapore; they should fix their timetables (and improve MNL).

Boeing should really get their shit together. JAL has always been a solid Boeing customer, and losing ground to Airbus does not look good.

[PAL 747]

I'm just surprised that PAL still flies to the Mideast considering the hold Emirates, Etihad & Qatar have (but then again, they're taking away potential PAL passengers to Europe & beyond).

[cosmicarcher]

Arianespace wrote

worst shape than the other

PR 104/105 are cancelled today.  

I can only assume it's an aircraft issue.  It's a pity that PAL is not able to substitute another plane and just ended up cancelling both sectors.

I've upcoming trip to SFO in May with PAL....I'm a bit concerned now.

[Evodesire]

PAL 747 wrote

PAL almost died back in 1998 as a result of $2 billion (in 1998 dollars) debt (due to over expansion in the middle of the Asian economic crisis) and labor issues. 1998 must have been so traumatizing for PAL that they are too cautious when it comes to expansion. They do have to be more aggressive especially now that the Philippine economy is a lot more different compared to 1998 or even the "glory" days of the 1980s.

PAL is also a poor airline to use if you're connecting flights. In addition to the substandard facilities at MNL, the timings are not ideal for travellers (i.e. Japan/Korea/China to Australia and vice versa. The timings for SE Asia and N. America are barely tolerable). If PAL wants to become the likes of Cathay, EVA Air, or Singapore; they should fix their timetables (and improve MNL).

I think this is one thing PAL should get over with. I understand that the 1998 expansion was a huge lesson, but I think being too cautious can equally have devastating effects in the face of stiff competition and the aggressive expansion of other airlines. The industry also is alot different now compared to 1998.

And now, Cebu Pacific is a bigger airline compared to the PAL group as reported by this website. Either they continue to live in the past by not getting over the 1998 incident, or they just get out the box and find ways and means to be more aggressive.

[PAL 747]

JAL had the same situation back in 2010. JAL filed for bankruptcy as a result of huge losses & a costly merger with the biggest domestic airline (Japan Air System) in 2002. Until recently, they were very conservative like PAL. Now ANA is the biggest airline in Japan; while JAL is #2.

Air India, Garuda Indonesia & Malaysia Airlines are now #2 compared to budget airlines like IndiGo, Lion Air & AirAsia with similar situations.

Air India would be interesting to look at. They're now owned by the founding owners: Tata Group which is one of India's largest corporations. They've recently ordered a large number of planes to "bring back the glory days". Let's see if they'll regain the status as India's largest airline.

[JNC03]

The difference between PAL and other airlines with financial struggles is the main airport they have.

The likes of JAL, Air India and others have nice airports to grow on and recover, they have a lot of slots and gates to fill. Due to that they can order a lot of aircraft to fill in the demand and slots they have. Nice airports can also attract travelers which can bring a lot of demand and profit to those airlines.

Cebu Pacific will not have its huge order if NMIA is not around the corner because they cannot put 100+ aircraft in MNL and CEB.

With the situation of PAL right now they are cautious about expanding, but they are keen to replace their aircraft with younger ones to lessen the operating costs. That will be a nice step to right direction, after all they can order with options like they did on A350 order.

Philippines has a culture that they want to fly in a cheap way thats why 5J and other LCC dominates the market. But PAL have a leverage in the intl market specifically long haul market.

I am thinking that the Zipair like airline will be nice in this country, the question is who will start it?

[PAL 747]

Come to think of it, has PAL said anything about the NMIA project? I don't remember anything.

One would think if there's a big project like NMIA, PAL would at the bare minimum make some vague comment.

PAL shot themselves on the foot by deferring the A321neo deliveries to 2026 & returning the 3 A350s. Being overly cautious has limited their ability to take advantage of the post-COVID travel boom.

Based on flightsfrom.com, PAL is still the dominant international carrier compared to Cebu Pacific.

If SMC won't buy PAL again, maybe they'll start their own airline.

[Arianespace]

PAL 747 wrote

PAL almost died back in 1998 as a result of $2 billion (in 1998 dollars) debt (due to over expansion in the middle of the Asian economic crisis) and labor issues. 1998 must have been so traumatizing for PAL that they are too cautious when it comes to expansion. They do have to be more aggressive especially now that the Philippine economy is a lot more different compared to 1998 or even the "glory" days of the 1980s.

PAL is also a poor airline to use if you're connecting flights. In addition to the substandard facilities at MNL, the timings are not ideal for travellers (i.e. Japan/Korea/China to Australia and vice versa. The timings for SE Asia and N. America are barely tolerable). If PAL wants to become the likes of Cathay, EVA Air, or Singapore; they should fix their timetables (and improve MNL).

Boeing should really get their shit together. JAL has always been a solid Boeing customer, and losing ground to Airbus does not look good.

But then again you should understand, PAL expansion didn't happen until 1992, six years prior to the Asian Financial Crisis. You can actually find that fact here. No airline was spared at that time. Everyone got government intervention except PAL. I remember well Erap refusing to buy back the flag carrier.

If you were paying close attention then, PAL was almost bought by Cathay Pacific in 1999.

Also, the fate of PAL was dictated largely by the limitations of NAIA. And yet they were able to grow modestly without the intervention of the government, unlike all of the ASEAN carriers which got financial support when covid struck. In both instances, LT saved PAL twice.

[Arianespace]

PAL 747 wrote

Come to think of it, has PAL said anything about the NMIA project? I don't remember anything.

One would think if there's a big project like NMIA, PAL would at the bare minimum make some vague comment.

If you only knew how close LT Group lost its grips in PAL from RSA. You should review past comments here. Very interesting to read.

PAL indeed is supporting an airport not named NMIA. Sadly, it did not fly off the ground.

[Arianespace]

If they want growth I would rather use Sangley than Clark before they are invaded by 2P and 5J, which would become a reality in the next 3 years.  The decision to relocate turboprop planes stand, and SMC can't do anything about it. Fact is, it would turn out to be at their advantage as traffic goes back to pre-pandemic level, resulting to priority of high density aircraft. Wonder why the sudden interest of A220 and E2 planes?

With their current old ATR planes, decision of CEO is sound to put the fleet at the nearest Dornier hospital. However, they wont be needing that much help with a newer fleet. Just look at Airswift and Balesin, they are smart.

[PAL 747]

I remember the Cathay A330s flying from MNL to CEB and DVO during the time PAL was shut down.

Garuda Indonesia was the biggest casualty of the 1997 crisis. Before 1997, they had an extensive European network & even saw their MD-11s at LAX in the 1990s. Once the economy recovered, they tried to expand; but it was not that successful.

I remember PAL's expansion from 1992 to 1998.

1992-1993: I think Fukuoka was launched in either 1992 or 1993. It was PAL's newest destination to Japan.

1993-1995: The B747-400 arrived; allowing PAL to launch non-stop flights to Los Angeles (there still was a need for technical stops in Honolulu depending on the season). Rome and Karachi went off-line by the end of 1993.

There was already talk of launching flights to Shanghai as early as 1995; but nothing came of it until 2001 when they were finally launched. I think Abu Dhabi went offline by the end of 1995. When Kansai Airport in Osaka opened, PAL launched a Manila-Cebu-Osaka flight.

I also remember that certain flights to Australia stopped in Cebu to pickup passengers. I can't remember if the flights stopped in Cebu on the return flight to Manila.

1996: The A340s started to arrive. PAL finally secured slots in London/Heathrow. It was a 9am departure from Manila 5x a week. Some flights to Frankfurt went non-stop. Jeddah was launched via Dubai.

1997: PAL launched a Manila-Seoul-Los Angeles flight using the leased MD-11 with full traffic rights. It was a morning departure from Manila. I think it was 3x a week. I actually flew on that flight. There was no arroz caldo on that flight, but was served Dosirak instant ramen noodles haha. By the end of 1997, it was terminated.

I remember there was also a Honolulu-Laoag-Manila-Honolulu. I think it was 2x a week; but it lasted for only a year.

The same MD-11s were used to launch Manila-Vancouver-Newark in the same year; but sadly, the Newark flight did not last long. By 1998, it was only Manila-Vancouver with the A340s.

Before the pilot strike in 98, PAL terminated service to Dubai.

I remember in 1999 how PAL went all over the place looking for a buyer; but LT eventually went solo.

[Arianespace]

Impressive. Here is the immortal photo of the iconic CX push in September of 1998. Almost everyone was asking why PAL fleet planning are almost similar to CX. There goes your answer. They have history together as CX peeps ran PR during rehab.



By the way, that famous HNL LAO flight is still there. You just need to transfer plane at NAIA.

[JNC03]

Now airlines in the Philippines are interested in Embraer and A220 jets

Now they see the use of it in our market

[Solblanc]

The new embraers and A220s basically replace the A319s and 737-300s of old which plied Philippine skies for quite a while. Especially now that Clark is there, so there’s no need to upgauge and compete for NAIA slots.

[Evodesire]

Arianespace wrote

PAL 747 wrote

Come to think of it, has PAL said anything about the NMIA project? I don't remember anything.

One would think if there's a big project like NMIA, PAL would at the bare minimum make some vague comment.

PAL indeed is supporting an airport not named NMIA. Sadly, it did not fly off the ground.

Is this the Sangley International Airport? I do understand that Macroasia was supposed to be part of this.