PAL to suffer more losses

PAL to suffer more losses

MANILA (AFP): Losses will dog Philippine Airlines Inc. (PAL),
which has embarked on an ambitious program, for the next two
years, company officials were quoted as saying yesterday.

The BusinessWorld daily quoted PAL president Jose Antonio
Garica as saying that "at the end of this year and next year, we
still expect losses, probably more than what we posted last
year."

Garcia said that in the third year, the airline might just
break even.

PAL has suffered at least 10 billion pesos ($384 million) in
cumulative losses over the last five years and had a
2.18-billion-peso net loss in the fiscal year to March 31, 1996.
PAL's longstanding losses have been blamed on mismanagement,
overstaffing, government regulations and unprofitable domestic
routes that it is forced to service.