Manila, 20.07.2011 - PHILIPPINE Airlines (PAL) on Tuesday reported that it carried the most number of international passengers compared with other domestic airlines in the first quarter of 2011 due to increased demand across all international routes. A total of 1.06 million passengers were recorded by PAL from January to March this year.

The figures were up 7 percent from 942,144 passengers covering the same period last year. First-quarter figures from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) show that PAL’s inbound passengers stood at 477,039 while outbound travelers reached 529,212.

PAL’s most traveled destinations in the region are Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong and South Korea. The United States also contributed a large chunk of the airline’s revenues while other sectors added to the carrier’s positive passenger numbers. In terms of revenue passenger per kilometers (RPK) or the number of passengers multiplied by distance traveled - an industry benchmark - PAL registered a total of 5 billion RPKs in the first three months of 2011. Of this number, 4.25 billion RPKs accounted for PAL’s international traffic, while the balance of 750 million RPKs represented the domestic sector.

Earlier, the Airline Business magazine ranked PAL as the world’s 61st largest airline. The ranking is based on RPK, which is considered the true measure of airline passenger traffic. For the last two years, PAL recorded an average of 17.8 billion RPKs in the World Airline Rankings. Source: businessmirror.com.ph