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Wednesday, April 16, 2003
PAL hit hard by SARS scare
MANILA - Passenger loads on Philippine Airlines (PAL) flights have plunged at the start of its new fiscal year due to the global outbreak of a deadly pneumonia strain, the flag carrier said Wednesday.
The passenger load factor for PAL's international operations fell 30 percent from a year earlier to 66 percent in the first 11 days of April, its president Avelino Zapanta said over ABS-CBN television.
Domestic flights also suffered a 10 percent drop due to security problems in the main southern island of Mindanao, he added.
Destinations hit by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus were the worst affected, he added.
Zapanta said domestic flights also posted a 10 percent drop, with the Mindanao sector being hit the hardest due to security problems.
But the executive said the SARS scare has been double-edged.
"While we are suffering in the region, we are seeing a bit of improvement in the trans-Pacific (flights) because a number of passengers who (used to) fly through Hong Kong and Taipei are now taking PAL's direct non-stop flights."
"In terms of revenues, it is not as alarming as in terms of loads," Zapanta said.
Zapanta said PAL has suffered to "a much lesser degree" than other regional carriers, such as Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines, which have reduced their operational levels.
Zapanta is not ruling out a reduction of the number of PAL flights to Hong Kong and China, saying it would depend on "developments in the workplace".
Closely-held PAL has yet to release its results for the fiscal year to March 2003, but executives earlier warned that its billion-peso (19,000-dollar) net profit forecast could be reduced by half due mainly to rising fuel costs associated with the war in Iraq.(AFP) |
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