“To survive, our flag carrier needs to find a way to profitability, reduce its debt and achieve a higher level of competitiveness, ” he said. The airline has a total headcount of 6,087 employees, compared to budget carrier Cebu Pacific’s staff compliment of 4,000. The airline’s publicly listed parent, PAL Holdings Inc, reported a net loss of 4.3bil pesos in 2018 and 7.3bil pesos in 2017. Sources told the Inquirer that the company’s owners had been actively scouting for a white knight to shore up the airline’s capital, although no firm buyer has yet been identified. Santa Maria said the airline’s financial troubles were also worsened by two force majeure incidents recently.

Source: The Star March 02, 2020 02:26 UTC