PAL urged not to pursue deal to form Cambodia Airlines

 Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) is said to be better off not pursuing a deal with Royal Group of Cambodia (RGC) to form Cambodia Airlines Co. Ltd., saying there are other “bigger priorities” for the flag carrier. …

CAPA said the Cambodia-Philippines is a small market, with Filipino visitors numbering only 109,000 in the first 11 months of 2013.

PAL would rely heavily on transit passengers for the Manila-Phnom Penh route and viewed Cambodia Airlines as a potential feeder as PAL pursues rapid expansion of its international network. But the opportunities to use Cambodia Airlines to feed PAL’s long-haul network would have been rather limited as the Philippines is not well geographically positioned to serve Cambodia’s traditional source market of Europe,” added CAPA.

PAL was supposed to form a joint venture with Cambodia’s Inter Logistics (Cambodia) Co. Ltd. (ILC) on July 15, 2013. This was later moved to October 15. But the venture did not push through as planned as elections took place in Cambodia. The Center for Asia-Pacific Aviation (CAPA) said PAL’s decision to shelve and question the viability of its Cambodian joint-venture project is the right move.

Lenie Lectura
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/02/04/14/pal-urged-not-pursue-deal-form-cambodia-airlines