Philippine Airlines (PR, Manila Ninoy Aquino International) will begin refurbishing its A321-200 fleet in May 2025, according to its 2024 annual report filed with the Philippines Stock Exchange. It comes as the airline experiences growing pains, with available aircraft capacity struggling to fully meet passenger demand.
The cabin renewal will include installing new seats and improving the current WiFi and inflight entertainment systems.
The airline operates eighteen A321-200s. Four more are operated by subsidiary PAL Express. The refurbished narrowbodies will operate short-haul international routes. ch-aviation schedules data indicates Philippine Airlines currently deploys A321-200s on international flights to 24 airports throughout Eastern and Northern Asia. The A321-200s at PAL Express will not be refurbished.
Philippine Airlines did not respond to a request for comment.
Speaking at a Manila media conference coinciding with the annual report's release, Philippine Airlines CEO Stanly Hg said the airline expects overall passenger numbers to rise between 10% and 20% over the next 12 months. “We’ve recovered some of our grounded aircraft. That will really help grow the passenger volume,” he said.
Ng said the airline operated 79 aircraft and planned to induct two more this year. According to ch-aviation fleets data, Philippines Airlines has thirteen A321-200Ns and nine A350-1000s on order. The 2025 deliveries will include the first A350-1000s later this year - slightly delayed from the previous mid-2025 delivery date. Ng says the long-range widebodies will be deployed onto North American routes and the airline is also eyeing flights to Europe. The first of the A321Ns on order will not arrive until 2026.
Aside from the eighteen A321-200s, Philippine Airlines also operates six A321-200Ns, two A321-200NX, eleven A330-300s, two A350-900s, and ten B777-300ERs.
In addition to ramping up its domestic frequencies, notably out of Cebu, Philippine Airlines also recently announced international network growth, including starting flights from Cebu to Ho Chi Minh City on May 2 and Manila to Da Nang on July 1.
Philippine Airlines recently posted its fourth consecutive year of profits. Having flown 15.6 million passengers in calendar 2024, the airline reported a net income of PHP10.22 billion pesos (USD180.4 million) for the year.
Ng attributed the result to greater operational efficiencies, improved schedule reliability and a more consistent service across the network.
Philippine Airlines expects to carry around 18 million passengers this year.
