PAL Holdings has moved to raise its authorised share capital ahead of a planned re-Initial Public Offering (re-IPO), while also considering bringing onboard a second international strategic partner after ANA Holdings bought a 9.5% stake in January for USD95 million.

President and chief executive Jaime Bautista said on June 4 that the Filipino flag carrier holding would be in a position to issue new shares to a prospective foreign investor once PAL raises its authorised capital to PHP20 billion piso (USD386.5 million) from the current PHP13.5 billion (USD261 million), The Philippine Star reported, a move that won shareholder approval on May 30.

Along with ANA's involvement, PAL recently appointed Ryuhei Maeda, a senior advisor at the Japanese carrier, to the company’s 15-member board of directors.

Bautista added, however, that there were currently no discussions with a potential new investor from the airline industry. In a follow-up comment, the airline said in a stock exchange filing: "The company has no plans yet to take on an additional strategic partner except in an equity offering if it decides to increase its authorised capital stock."

The re-IPO - a follow-on offering on an already listed stock - is more likely to happen in 2020 than this year, Bautista said.

Following two years of losses due to “high operating costs and very stiff competition,” PAL aims to return to profitability this year, in part by reducing capacity, he added.

“We will reduce flights to destinations where there is excess capacity like the Middle East. We will also stop flying to some domestic routes where we are not able to recover all our expenses,” he said.

Bautista confirmed that the launch of a new 4x weekly Manila Ninoy Aquino International-Delhi International service, originally scheduled to commence on March 31, would now not happen this year.

However, Philippine Airlines (PR, Manila Ninoy Aquino International) is eyeing flights to Baguio when it reopens to commercial flights, the Philippine Daily Inquirer has reported. Although the mountain resort town's airport, whose runway 09/27 measures 1,680 metres, is used by the Philippine Air Force, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) has said that upgrades are needed before passenger flights can resume. Budget allocations for work such as installing box culverts on the runway to rechannel surface water are set to be allocated in 2020.