By Cris Larano
MANILA--Philippine Airlines Inc., or PAL, is seeking to delay
the delivery of some aircraft it had earlier ordered from Airbus
Industrie as the carrier reviews both its domestic and
international routes, the airlines' listed parent company PAL
Holdings Inc. (PAL.PH) said Friday.
PAL Holdings said the airline "has been negotiating the
deferment and staggering that schedule of the delivery of the 38
Airbus 321." The completion of the delivery of the 38 planes were
originally scheduled for 2020. PAL is now looking at a completion
date of 2024.
In November, PAL president Jaime Bautista said the re-fleeting
is under review, including the delivery of some 28 narrow-bodied
Airbus jets scheduled for delivery between 2016 and 2022. PAL has
70 aircraft and will take delivery of 10 more Airbus jets in
2015.
PAL was assessing the deployment of the 15 Airbus A330s that was
ordered when conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC.PH) was still
managing the airline. The aircraft were supposed to service Middle
East routes but Philippine Airlines didn't get the slots and flight
frequencies it hoped to secure in the region, leaving the planes
under utilized.
PAL Holdings is optimistic Airbus will agree to delay the
delivery of the planes without imposing any penalties on PAL.
Write to Cris Larano at cris.larano@dowjones.com;
@CrisLaranoWSJ
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires