Philippine Daily Inquirer
September 29, 2012
By Paolo G. Montecillo
Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) has exercised an option to acquire 10 more wide-body, long-haul Airbus planes from European manufacturer EADS as the company slowly phases out its old gas guzzlers in favor of more efficient aircraft.
The new planes would be on top of a previous batch of 10 Airbus A330 jets, which are part of an original order to buy 54 planes from EADS worth $7 billion.
PAL president Ramon S. Ang said the new planes would bring the worth of the company’s new orders to a total of $10 billion if published list prices were followed.
“The new planes will bring our unit costs down tremendously,” Ang told reporters at the sidelines of the PAL Holdings stockholders’ meeting Friday. “We can save as much as 20 percent per passenger with the new planes.”
PAL Holdings is the flag carrier’s parent company.
Ang described the company’s current fleet of older planes as “gas guzzlers,” especially when compared with the new orders that have newer, more fuel efficient engines.
Ang said the option to acquire the new planes, which was included in the airline’s original deal to buy the first batch of planes, was exercised two weeks ago.
He said the airline was also nearing a deal to acquire an additional 36 long-haul, wide-body planes either from EADS or its American plane-making rival, Boeing Co.
The new planes would likely be used for flights to the Middle East in the absence of an upgrade for the Philippines to “category 1” status with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The country’s current “category 2” grade prevents local airlines from expanding operations in the United States.
Meantime, San Miguel and the Lucio Tan group are in talks to form a joint venture for plans to build a new international airport that both groups hope would serve as the country’s premiere gateway.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
PAL Orders 10 More A330s
Manila Bulletin
September 29, 2012
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine Airlines (PAL) has agreed to buy another $2.5 billion worth of Airbus jets from European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company NV, its president said on Friday, part of the fast-growing carrier's attempt to reclaim dominance of its local market.
The new deal involves the purchase of 10 wide-bodied jets with a list price of $250 million each, Ramon Ang told reporters, on top of the airline's $7-billion Airbus deal with announced in August.
"We are starting to replace our jets with wide-bodied planes because that is what the market wants," Ang told reporters on the sidelines of parent company PAL Holdings Inc.'s stockholders' meeting.
PAL still wants to buy 35 more planes, either from Airbus or Boeing Co., Ang said, in line with its plan to add 100 new jets to its fleet in the next five to seven years as it reshapes its business to take on main rival Cebu Air Inc.
"Our refleeting program right now is close to $10 billion," Ang said. "We exercised our option to buy 10-wide bodied jets (from Airbus) two weeks ago," he said, referring to the new purchases.
San Miguel Corp, which bought a 49 percent stake in PAL and a sister airline in April from Filipino billionaire and brewing rival Lucio Tan in a deal worth about $500 million, controls the management of the airline.
Ang also said San Miguel was considering teaming up with Tan to build a major new airport in the country, a project he said on Friday may cost $5-6 billion.
Ang also said on Friday that San Miguel, the Philippines' most diversified conglomerate, may have to delist three of its units, including flagship San Miguel Brewery Inc., from the local bourse if it failed to meet a minimum float requirement.
PAL Holdings is also likely to be delisted by the end of this year because it will not be able to comply with the free float rule, he said.
The Philippine Stock Exchange has set a Dec. 31 deadline for companies to raise their free float to at least 10 percent in order to avoid penalties such as trading suspension.
"We are trying our best (to see) if we can comply with the minimum requirement, but if not we will go for voluntary delisting," Ang told reporters. "We are having a difficult time."
San Miguel Brewery, San Miguel Properties Inc, San Miguel Pure Foods Co. Inc. are among more than two dozen firms that do not have enough shares floated.
"We would rather that no firm go and delist as their main option," Philippine Stock Exchange President Hans Sicat told Reuters.
For the three San Miguel firms to meet the 10 percent threshold would require issuance of $1.73 billion in new shares, according to Reuters' calculations.
Some firms which have free floats of less than 10 percent are preparing to sell shares in the next few weeks, while others are looking at an option to voluntarily delist.
If companies have not met the requirement by the end of this year, trading in their shares will be halted at the start of 2013, and forced delisting will follow if they fail to enlarge their free floats within the subsequent six months.
Shares in San Miguel Corp erased early losses to end the morning session flat. The broader Manila market was up 0.4 percent.
San Miguel shares have fallen more than 5 percent this year, underperforming the market which gained nearly 22 percent.
September 29, 2012
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine Airlines (PAL) has agreed to buy another $2.5 billion worth of Airbus jets from European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company NV, its president said on Friday, part of the fast-growing carrier's attempt to reclaim dominance of its local market.
The new deal involves the purchase of 10 wide-bodied jets with a list price of $250 million each, Ramon Ang told reporters, on top of the airline's $7-billion Airbus deal with announced in August.
"We are starting to replace our jets with wide-bodied planes because that is what the market wants," Ang told reporters on the sidelines of parent company PAL Holdings Inc.'s stockholders' meeting.
PAL still wants to buy 35 more planes, either from Airbus or Boeing Co., Ang said, in line with its plan to add 100 new jets to its fleet in the next five to seven years as it reshapes its business to take on main rival Cebu Air Inc.
"Our refleeting program right now is close to $10 billion," Ang said. "We exercised our option to buy 10-wide bodied jets (from Airbus) two weeks ago," he said, referring to the new purchases.
San Miguel Corp, which bought a 49 percent stake in PAL and a sister airline in April from Filipino billionaire and brewing rival Lucio Tan in a deal worth about $500 million, controls the management of the airline.
Ang also said San Miguel was considering teaming up with Tan to build a major new airport in the country, a project he said on Friday may cost $5-6 billion.
Ang also said on Friday that San Miguel, the Philippines' most diversified conglomerate, may have to delist three of its units, including flagship San Miguel Brewery Inc., from the local bourse if it failed to meet a minimum float requirement.
PAL Holdings is also likely to be delisted by the end of this year because it will not be able to comply with the free float rule, he said.
The Philippine Stock Exchange has set a Dec. 31 deadline for companies to raise their free float to at least 10 percent in order to avoid penalties such as trading suspension.
"We are trying our best (to see) if we can comply with the minimum requirement, but if not we will go for voluntary delisting," Ang told reporters. "We are having a difficult time."
San Miguel Brewery, San Miguel Properties Inc, San Miguel Pure Foods Co. Inc. are among more than two dozen firms that do not have enough shares floated.
"We would rather that no firm go and delist as their main option," Philippine Stock Exchange President Hans Sicat told Reuters.
For the three San Miguel firms to meet the 10 percent threshold would require issuance of $1.73 billion in new shares, according to Reuters' calculations.
Some firms which have free floats of less than 10 percent are preparing to sell shares in the next few weeks, while others are looking at an option to voluntarily delist.
If companies have not met the requirement by the end of this year, trading in their shares will be halted at the start of 2013, and forced delisting will follow if they fail to enlarge their free floats within the subsequent six months.
Shares in San Miguel Corp erased early losses to end the morning session flat. The broader Manila market was up 0.4 percent.
San Miguel shares have fallen more than 5 percent this year, underperforming the market which gained nearly 22 percent.
Ang says PAL airport project to cost $6b
Manila Standard Today
September 29, 2012
By Lailany P. Gomez
San Miguel Corp., which has a 49 percent stake in Philippine Airlines, said Friday it is in talks with taipan Lucio Tan to invest up to $6 billion in a new airport that is expected to replace the Ninoy Aquino International Airport as Manila's main gateway.
San Miguel president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang, however, declined to identify the exact location of the future airport, which he said would take two to three years to build.
He denied reports the new airport would be built in Bulacan province, just north of Metro Manila. "Bulacan is a mountainous area. You cannot put an airport there," Ang told reporters at the sidelines of the PAL Holdings Inc.'s annual stockholders' meeting.
Ang, who is also the president of PAL, said the shareholders of PAL and San Miguel were in talks with the Tan family for the proposed private airport, which will also be opened to other airlines later on.
"This project is between two shareholders - SMC and Lucio Tan family. We will file a disclosure if there's a definite time. We intend to talk to the government to submit in January next year. We are preparing," Ang said.
Ang said the project might cost $5 billion to $6 billion, with $1 billion to $2 billion representing the equity to be infused by each party.
PAL Holdings, the holdings company of Philippine Airlines, may voluntarily delist from the Philippine Stock Exchange by the end of the year, as the company may not be able to comply with the minimum float requirement. Only 2.3 percent of PAL Holdings Inc.'s shares are held by the public.
"We have no choice but to comply with the 10-percent minimum public float, because we will not be able to reach the timeline for us to be able to do another round [of share sale]," Ang said.
"We will not let the PSE to delist us, because it's not good for us. We are taking the option of doing it voluntarily to avoid hassle. Before the end of the year, we will delist," Ang said.
Ang said PAL was focusing on its refleeting program. "In fact, we signed two weeks ago with Airbus for additional 10 wide-body A330 on top of the 54 aircraft we bought earlier. We are still in talks with the aircraft manufacturers," Ang said.
The list price for each A330 was $250 million or $2.5 billion for all the 10 planes on top of the $7 billion earlier signed with Airbus, Ang said.
September 29, 2012
By Lailany P. Gomez
San Miguel Corp., which has a 49 percent stake in Philippine Airlines, said Friday it is in talks with taipan Lucio Tan to invest up to $6 billion in a new airport that is expected to replace the Ninoy Aquino International Airport as Manila's main gateway.
San Miguel president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang, however, declined to identify the exact location of the future airport, which he said would take two to three years to build.
He denied reports the new airport would be built in Bulacan province, just north of Metro Manila. "Bulacan is a mountainous area. You cannot put an airport there," Ang told reporters at the sidelines of the PAL Holdings Inc.'s annual stockholders' meeting.
Ang, who is also the president of PAL, said the shareholders of PAL and San Miguel were in talks with the Tan family for the proposed private airport, which will also be opened to other airlines later on.
"This project is between two shareholders - SMC and Lucio Tan family. We will file a disclosure if there's a definite time. We intend to talk to the government to submit in January next year. We are preparing," Ang said.
Ang said the project might cost $5 billion to $6 billion, with $1 billion to $2 billion representing the equity to be infused by each party.
PAL Holdings, the holdings company of Philippine Airlines, may voluntarily delist from the Philippine Stock Exchange by the end of the year, as the company may not be able to comply with the minimum float requirement. Only 2.3 percent of PAL Holdings Inc.'s shares are held by the public.
"We have no choice but to comply with the 10-percent minimum public float, because we will not be able to reach the timeline for us to be able to do another round [of share sale]," Ang said.
"We will not let the PSE to delist us, because it's not good for us. We are taking the option of doing it voluntarily to avoid hassle. Before the end of the year, we will delist," Ang said.
Ang said PAL was focusing on its refleeting program. "In fact, we signed two weeks ago with Airbus for additional 10 wide-body A330 on top of the 54 aircraft we bought earlier. We are still in talks with the aircraft manufacturers," Ang said.
The list price for each A330 was $250 million or $2.5 billion for all the 10 planes on top of the $7 billion earlier signed with Airbus, Ang said.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
PAL Planning Iloilo-Korea Flights
Manila Bulletin
September 25, 2012
MANILA (PNA) — The Philippine Airlines (PAL) direct international flight Iloilo to Korea is now on the pipeline, PAL Iloilo manager Juancho Demaguila said.
Demaguila said that they admired the courage of Cebu Pacific to already have its inaugural flight for Iloilo to Hong Kong on Nov. 8 and Iloilo to Singapore on Nov. 9.
“We admire the courage or the guts of Cebu Pacific,” Demaguila said.
He said that for PAL, their higher management was seriously studying to have Iloilo to Korea direct flights and which they hoped to sustain in the long-term.
“There’s a Korean school here that is very aggressive in bringing in students,” Demaguila said. He said that with their tie up with the Korean school, they would be assured of flying Korean students to Iloilo.
He said that they would not only be flying students though, but also the Korean tourists. Korean tourists yearly top the Western Visayas foreign tourist arrivals and generating sizable amount for the tourism industries in the region, especially Boracay island in Aklan.
Meanwhile, the low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific will make the record as the first to fly internationally from Iloilo to Hong Kong and Singapore.
September 25, 2012
MANILA (PNA) — The Philippine Airlines (PAL) direct international flight Iloilo to Korea is now on the pipeline, PAL Iloilo manager Juancho Demaguila said.
Demaguila said that they admired the courage of Cebu Pacific to already have its inaugural flight for Iloilo to Hong Kong on Nov. 8 and Iloilo to Singapore on Nov. 9.
“We admire the courage or the guts of Cebu Pacific,” Demaguila said.
He said that for PAL, their higher management was seriously studying to have Iloilo to Korea direct flights and which they hoped to sustain in the long-term.
“There’s a Korean school here that is very aggressive in bringing in students,” Demaguila said. He said that with their tie up with the Korean school, they would be assured of flying Korean students to Iloilo.
He said that they would not only be flying students though, but also the Korean tourists. Korean tourists yearly top the Western Visayas foreign tourist arrivals and generating sizable amount for the tourism industries in the region, especially Boracay island in Aklan.
Meanwhile, the low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific will make the record as the first to fly internationally from Iloilo to Hong Kong and Singapore.
Monday, September 3, 2012
PAL to realign canada flight entitlements
Business Mirror
September 3, 2012
By Lenie Lectura
Philippine Airlines (PAL) is realigning its existing flight entitlements for Vancouver to service another destination in Canada.
PAL President Ramon S. Ang said the flag carrier plans to start servicing the Manila-Toronto route on November 30. "We will serve not only Vancouver but Toronto as well," he said.
PAL is currently the only airline flying between the Philippines and Canada. It was assigned seven entitlements for the Manila-Vancouver route.
PAL Officer in Charge for Commercial Group Rafael Rollan said the airline will use three of the seven entitlements to service the Manila-Toronto route. The remaining four will be used for services to Vancouver.
"There will be four entitlements for our Manila-Vancouver [route] and the other three will be used to fly Manila to Toronto non-stop. The realignment of flight frequencies will begin on November 30. As we speak, we are finalizing the pricing. Maybe by mid-September the pricing will be uploaded in our web site already," said Rollan in an interview.
PAL needs an additional seven flight entitlements on top of the existing seven but there are no available entitlements. The Philippine airpanel has yet to set talks with its counterpart in Canada, said Rollan. "Ideally, if we can secure another seven or more [entitlements], that is what we want," he added.
The airline is exhausting all means to secure entitlements to the North American country. Rollan said PAL wrote to Air canada to ask if PAL could borrow the latter's enttitlements since Air Canada is not flying to Manila.
"We wrote [Air Canada] but they have not responded to us. They have seven unutilized entitlements. Hopefully, they could lend us their frequencies through code-sharing because this arrangement was done before," said Rollan.
He explained that the additional entitlements inject the much-needed capacity into PAL's Vancouver route, the only direct link between Canada and the Philippines, and has long been sought by the sizebale Filipino migrant commnunity in that country as well as by the business and leisure segments of the market.
"We want to test Toronto. We will try to develop the market," he added.
Ang earlier said, "in the near future, PAL will fly non-stop to Toronto, Paris, New York City and in the Middle East." PAL plans to expand its fleet by placing orders for 100 airplanes.
September 3, 2012
By Lenie Lectura
Philippine Airlines (PAL) is realigning its existing flight entitlements for Vancouver to service another destination in Canada.
PAL President Ramon S. Ang said the flag carrier plans to start servicing the Manila-Toronto route on November 30. "We will serve not only Vancouver but Toronto as well," he said.
PAL is currently the only airline flying between the Philippines and Canada. It was assigned seven entitlements for the Manila-Vancouver route.
PAL Officer in Charge for Commercial Group Rafael Rollan said the airline will use three of the seven entitlements to service the Manila-Toronto route. The remaining four will be used for services to Vancouver.
"There will be four entitlements for our Manila-Vancouver [route] and the other three will be used to fly Manila to Toronto non-stop. The realignment of flight frequencies will begin on November 30. As we speak, we are finalizing the pricing. Maybe by mid-September the pricing will be uploaded in our web site already," said Rollan in an interview.
PAL needs an additional seven flight entitlements on top of the existing seven but there are no available entitlements. The Philippine airpanel has yet to set talks with its counterpart in Canada, said Rollan. "Ideally, if we can secure another seven or more [entitlements], that is what we want," he added.
The airline is exhausting all means to secure entitlements to the North American country. Rollan said PAL wrote to Air canada to ask if PAL could borrow the latter's enttitlements since Air Canada is not flying to Manila.
"We wrote [Air Canada] but they have not responded to us. They have seven unutilized entitlements. Hopefully, they could lend us their frequencies through code-sharing because this arrangement was done before," said Rollan.
He explained that the additional entitlements inject the much-needed capacity into PAL's Vancouver route, the only direct link between Canada and the Philippines, and has long been sought by the sizebale Filipino migrant commnunity in that country as well as by the business and leisure segments of the market.
"We want to test Toronto. We will try to develop the market," he added.
Ang earlier said, "in the near future, PAL will fly non-stop to Toronto, Paris, New York City and in the Middle East." PAL plans to expand its fleet by placing orders for 100 airplanes.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
PAL proposes new airport in Manila
The Manila Times
September 1, 2012
By Rosalie C. Periabras
To meet the growing demand of travelers in the Philippines, flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) is proposing the construction of a new international airport to the government.
Ramon Ang, president and chief operating officer of PAL, said that the airline has a vision to create a new international airport in Manila if the government will give them a go signal. He added that they will propose the construction of the new airport to President Benigno Aquino 3rd by January or February.
"In 36 months ribbon cutting already," Ang noted.
He also said that the new airport would have four parallel runways so that aircraft could fly simultaneously. It would also span 2,000 hectares, which includes a shopping mall, restaurants and other major industries.
He said that the company is in talks with a Korean contractor for the project, which has a 36-month completion target or about three years.
Ang said that the proposed project would be aligned with the government's tourism plan.
Meanwhile, for the fiscal first quarter ending June, PAL reported a net income of $11.4 million, a turnaround from a net loss of $10.6 million registered in the same preiod last year.
The company incurred a net loss of $99.79 million for its 2011 to 2012 fiscal year, citing labor disturbance, the Japan tsunami disaster and volatile fuel prices amid civil strife in Middle East.
PAL's operational revenues increased marginally by 2.6 percent to $1.72 billion as the airline carried 8.22 million passengers, down from the previous year but still strong enough to translate to better revenues.
The proposed airport project is also a reinforcement to the airline's $7-billion deal to buy 54 planes which will start delivery in 2013.
Ang had said that the airline will buy a total of 100 planes to stengthen its regional flights.
The new aircraft will be used for its Middle East and Australia routes.
PAL carried more than nine million passengers both domestic and international during the 2010 and 2011 period.
September 1, 2012
By Rosalie C. Periabras
To meet the growing demand of travelers in the Philippines, flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) is proposing the construction of a new international airport to the government.
Ramon Ang, president and chief operating officer of PAL, said that the airline has a vision to create a new international airport in Manila if the government will give them a go signal. He added that they will propose the construction of the new airport to President Benigno Aquino 3rd by January or February.
"In 36 months ribbon cutting already," Ang noted.
He also said that the new airport would have four parallel runways so that aircraft could fly simultaneously. It would also span 2,000 hectares, which includes a shopping mall, restaurants and other major industries.
He said that the company is in talks with a Korean contractor for the project, which has a 36-month completion target or about three years.
Ang said that the proposed project would be aligned with the government's tourism plan.
Meanwhile, for the fiscal first quarter ending June, PAL reported a net income of $11.4 million, a turnaround from a net loss of $10.6 million registered in the same preiod last year.
The company incurred a net loss of $99.79 million for its 2011 to 2012 fiscal year, citing labor disturbance, the Japan tsunami disaster and volatile fuel prices amid civil strife in Middle East.
PAL's operational revenues increased marginally by 2.6 percent to $1.72 billion as the airline carried 8.22 million passengers, down from the previous year but still strong enough to translate to better revenues.
The proposed airport project is also a reinforcement to the airline's $7-billion deal to buy 54 planes which will start delivery in 2013.
Ang had said that the airline will buy a total of 100 planes to stengthen its regional flights.
The new aircraft will be used for its Middle East and Australia routes.
PAL carried more than nine million passengers both domestic and international during the 2010 and 2011 period.
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