Philippine Airlines, the Manila-based national carrier of the Philippines, is planning on placing a large order for new aircraft in the near future as demand for travel in the region continues to soar. Speaking to the ABS-CBN news agency on July 30, 2024, the carrier’s President and Chief Operating Officer Stanley Ng said that his company was planning to buy a large number of planes shortly to meet that growing demand for air travel.
Ng added that the company had been planning to conduct a study on a potential new aircraft order in 2023, but that this process has been delayed. That said, the planning had resumed especially as new airports are being constructed across the country and tourism is also expected to grow in the coming years, Ng added.
“Last year we were supposed to study and make a longer-term plan because of all the developments in our country as well,” said Ng.
“There will be new airports, and new capacity will come in. We have to prepare for that. We have to be ready. We can’t order planes when the airport is already online. It’s thinking ahead also,” Ng concluded.
Ng alluded that any new aircraft order could be around 75 new planes. When asked whether the order would be for 100 aircraft, Ng said that it could be for “around that number” when existing outstanding orders are taken into account. The carrier currently has an order backlog of 13 A321neos and nine A350-1000s from Airbus, with the first of the A321s due to arrive with the carrier in mid-2026 while the new A350s begin to arrive later in 2025.
The airline also holds options on a further three of the widebody type and according to Manila-based Business World, Philippines Airlines has been conducting negotiations with various financial institutions regarding loans to the value of approximately $500 million to exercise these options, which should it be successful in doing so, would, bring the current order backlog to 25 airframes.
According to ch-aviation, the airline operates a current fleet of 80 aircraft comprising 15 Airbus A320s, 22 A321s, eight A321neos, 11 A330-300s, two A350-900s, and nine Boeing 777-300ERs. On the turboprop side, the carrier operates a fleet of 11 De Havilland Canada DHC-8-Q400s for domestic operations.
The carrier is also facing increasing competition from local rival Cebu Pacific which recently announced an order for up to 152 new aircraft from Airbus, the largest order for new airplanes in the country’s history. At the time of the order announcement, Cebu Pacific executives cited the rapid growth in air traffic plus the construction of new airports in the Philippines as the key driver for the order for additional capacity
Meanwhile, Ng spoke about how the carrier remains optimistic about the privatization of the operations at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL) – a process that is expected to get underway in September 2024.
“Innovation will start coming in by September [2024]. Hopefully, we can already see some innovations by the end of the year because especially it’s Christmas peak season and that’s the best time for travelers to enjoy those innovations that will be implemented at the airport already,” he said.
