DAVAO CITY, June 2 (PNA) — The country’s flag carrier, the Philippine Airlines is confident it will achieve the 5-star status as an airline company as it undertakes significant and extensive measures to become more competitive in the industry.
Speaking before the members of the Rotary Club East of Davao City at the Marco Polo Hotel on Tuesday, Victor Derecho Sanchez, PAL’s Mindanao area manager for Sales and Services said the company is up for acquisition of more modern aircrafts to boost its domestic and international services.
Currently, PAL has as 3-star rating in the airline industry, he reported.
“On aircraft acquisition, the PAL management has decided to purchase A-350-900s and additional Boeing 777s to support our local flights. Later this year there will be deliveries of additional two units of Boeing 777,” Sanchez said.
He added that PAL management’s plan of modernization will be boosted as the management recently decided to order six more units of Airbus 350-900 aircrafts.
“Once delivered in the early part of 2018 passengers in the Philippines will experience the amazing features and amenities of A-350-900 planes,” Sanchez added.
Recently, PAL announced it will bring back its big jets on its Davao operations beginning June 1 in response to the increased demand for passenger seats and cargo spaces.
The company, which operates eight Davao-Manila flights a day said it will be utilizing its Airbus 330 aircrafts with a capacity of 414 seats to replace the 199-seater Airbus 321 on PR 1814 that leaves Davao daily at 11:40 am.
“The upgrade in aircraft will allow us to carry more passengers and cargo, while offering quality inflight service,” Suarez pointed out.
Another factor that will boost its bid to become a five-star rank is the quality of PAL’s pilots that ran their aircrafts in domestic and international flights.
Sanchez said demand for better trained pilots is projected to increase in the next 10 years not only in the domestic but also in international scene.
“For PAL we have better incentives and compensations and for trainings we have our own PAL aviation school,” he stressed.
He also assured the public that PAL fares both in the domestic and international are reasonable despite the fact that other airline companies especially the foreign ones have access to cheaper fuel and are subsidized.
“For us our fares are not that high as these are on reasonable levels and based on supply and demand,” he stressed.
The company is also mulling of transforming Davao into a hub as increase in the number of passengers will be expected with the recent developments – among them is the election of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as the next president of the republic.
“We are enhancing our services in Cebu hub and the services in Visayas and Mindanao. We are also looking on transforming Davao into another hub.”
Sanchez said PAL is upbeat with what they call the “Duterte effect” into the airline industry in Mindanao with the hope that the next administration will bring political and economic stability in the island-region.
By transforming the city into a hub Sanchez noted that the company will then make a study on which region in Asia it will open for direct flight from and to Davao City.
“If they could be able to bring in more events and conventions in Davao City then there would be great opportunity to open more destinations from Davao City” to other parts of the country and in Asia.
