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The low-cost partner of the flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL), Air Philippines, will be undergoing a refleeting program before the end of 2009. PAL president Jaime Bautista said, “Air Philippines will soon announce its refleeting plan since it is a separate company. It will operate on its own. It will be a whole new Air Phil.”

The Lucio Tan Group of Companies own 99% of the Air Philippines, while the PAL is 95% own by the group.

Bautista admitted that at present, Air Philippines has ceased operations, “Yes, it has stopped flying the 737-200 jet aircraft because these consume more jet fuel than other types of aircraft. It needs to be replaced.” Meanwhile, he said that the PAL Express, another low-fare unit of PAL, is currently flying the routes assigned to Air Philippines.

The PAL executive said that the company is both looking to strengthen the operations of both PAL and Air Philippines with modest fleet and route network buildups, in spite of the predictions by the International Air Transport Association of a dip in industry earning because of increased fuel prices.

Both PAL and Air Philippines have had close complementation in their flight operations. The two airline companies have been feeding passengers into each other’s networks and ensure seamless connection via their joint hubs at the NAIA Centennial Terminal 2 in Manila and Mactan International Airport in Cebu.

The partnership of PAL and Air Philippines, according to Bautista, has yielded operational synergies that enabled the alliance to deliver a superior product beneficial to passengers.

For the first half of the year, Air Philippines carried 254,244 passengers in the first half of the year out of the possible 335,392 seats, while the PAL carried 3,207,060. Air Philippines used to operate BombardierQ300 turbo-pop aircraft. Now, these aircrafts are being operated by PAL Express, which transported 623,000 passengers from April 2008 to March 2009.