Philippine Airlines (PAL) is scrapping leases on three Boeing 747-200s, while Singapore Airlines (SIA) has reduced capacity by bringing forward maintenance on 747-400s as traffic continues to decline.
PAL president and chief operating officer Avelino Zapanta said the 747-200s will be grounded from 16 January after the peak holiday travel period comes to an end.
Zapanta says the three aircraft are operated as "back-ups" as well as for expanded services during peak times. They are wet-leased from Air Philippines, a domestic carrier controlled by PAL's chairman and majority owner Lucio Tan.
"They are relatively old aircraft and we have to spend money on maintenance and to hire cabin crew for them. We calculated that it was better for us to dispose of the three aircraft because of the current situation," says Zapanta. He adds that PAL is also dismissing around 150 recently hired cabin crew in a bid to cut costs, and that since the carrier has been suffering from a sharp drop in business in recent months, the target of profitability for the year ending 31 March, 2002, is now unlikely to be met.
SIA, meanwhile, is still suffering from sharp declines in traffic, and says it has brought forward maintenance on 747-400s. It denies rumours that it has parked aircraft, however, like Hong Kong-based rival Cathay Pacific Airways, which is grounding seven widebodies.
"In Singapore, because of capacity reduction, our 747-400s are used less and, as a consequence, they are being put through an accelerated maintenance programme," SIA says. "This increases the amount of time the aircraft are on the ground and it may give the false impression they are 'parked'. All our 747-400s continue to be flown."
SIA has been suffering particularly badly in recent months, as it has no domestic traffic base and earns much of its revenue from long-haul services.
The airline has already suspended services on several routes and reduced frequencies on others, in addition to deferring deliveries of Airbus A340-500s and taking other internal cost-cutting action.
Source: Flight International
