Philippine Airlines (PAL) reported its operating income of $297.2 million (about P16.1 billion) and a total comprehensive income of $196.9 million (P10.7 billion) for the year ending December 31, 2022, which is its first positive full-year operating income since 2019.
The Philippine flag carrier’s consolidated revenues surged 112 percent to $2.57 billion (P139.5 billion) in 2022 from $1.21 billion the previous year.
PAL’s positive reports for all four quarters of 2022 were a result of the rising demand in air travel that followed the easing of travel restrictions and the reopening of borders in most countries.
The airline has also achieved an average passenger load factor of 72 percent for 2022, nearly thirty percentage points higher than the previous year’s 42.6% load factor.
The report also stated that PAL flew a total of 9.3 million passengers in 2022— comprising the operations of both the PAL mainline network as well as PAL Express—which is an increase of 214 percent from the 2021 carriage level.
For its total operating expenses in 2022, it amounted to $2.27 billion, an increase of $960.3 million over 2021’s $1.31 billion total. This is a result of the increase in the number of flights operated, coupled with the impact of rising fuel prices in the world market. Jet fuel costs represent the highest expense item for the airline.
In a statement, PAL President & COO Captain Stanley K. Ng said: “We are very grateful for the support of our customers that has enabled us to achieve this positive result amidst a challenging year. Philippine Airlines continues to be on a journey of recovery and renewal, and we will make good use of our resources to improve our services for the benefit of our valued customers. We are even more determined to upgrade our fleet, build more connections to key markets and offer improved products and services.”
“We also thank our shareholders, our service partners, and our dedicated employee work force whose tireless efforts have led to continuing progress in our recovery journey. We embrace our mission of service and remain committed to work with government and industry partners to help boost the Philippines’ economic and tourism development goals,” he added.
Recently, PAL has launched the first nonstop Perth-Manila flight and reopened several routes between the Philippines and points in mainland China.
PAL continues to soar in 2023 as it remains to be the only airline operating nonstop flights linking the Philippines to the U.S. and Canada, along with the largest network of flights from Manila to multiple cities in the Middle East, Japan and Australia.
