DAVAO CITY, 8 July — Resigned to the fact that fewer foreign, tourists would venture into the country amid threats of kidnappings, the Philippine Airlines hopes to draw vacationing expatriate Filipinos instead.
Avelino Zapanta, PAL president and chief operations officer, said the number of foreign visitors to the country does not contribute well to the airline’s daily revenues.
“So we are now strengthening our communication initiatives for a very important market segment which is the Filipino traffic, “ said Zapanta during his recent visit to Davao.
PAL management admitted that the airline is currently operating under a “very difficult” business environment due to the disaster brought about by Abu Sayyaf kidnappers.
PAL, which is now trying to get out of receivership, said it hopes to achieve a dramatic profitability during its third year of rehabilitation, which is needed for the possible conduct of initial public offering (IPO) in the fourth fiscal year.
“We would want to maintain profitability that we have established in the first two years of rehabilitation except that the magnitude is something we can’t say because of this environment that we are working in,” he said.
He said they are now heavily depending on the Filipino market since Filipinos know the real score as far as peace and order crisis is concerned.
Amid the negative PAL receives, OFWs in Hong Kong, United Emirates and Saudi Arabia remain a top favorite for the airline. The competition has not discouraged PAL to continue flying the Middle East.
With the soon-to-come night operation of the Davao International Airport, PAL hopes to establish a link between Filipino travelers, notably OFWs and the airline, Zapanta said.
