SINGAPORE—With its latest deliveries from Airbus delayed, Philippine Airlines (PAL) is prioritizing aircraft retrofits and is setting a 2025 deadline to decide on the fate of other aircraft programs.
Roland Narcisco, PAL SVP of operations group, said at MRO Asia Pacific that the delivery of its Airbus A350 has been pushed from the third quarter of 2025 to the fourth quarter of 2025 and similarly, the A321neo was delayed from 2026 to no new firm date.
This is exacerbated by the grounding of four of eight A321neos due to the geared turbofan Pratt & Whitney engine issue.
To ensure commonality and cater to passengers’ demands, PAL will start the retrofit of 18 A321ceos in mid-2025 with similar A321neo products, including inflight entertainment (IFE). The program will be completed by 2027.
PAL has opted not to retrofit its nine Boeing 777-300ERs given the leases for those aircraft are close to expiring.
Narcisco said to look and plan beyond 2028, the airline must decide by 2025 if it should refleet or retrofit aircraft such as the Airbus A330 or Dash 8 turboprops.
At the same MRO-AP panel, Nauru Airlines head of maintenance Brian Douglas said new technology has allowed the airline to affordably retrofit its old aircraft. He said installation of IFE would be economically infeasible on its classic 737s, but introduction of Wi-Fi technologies like Starlink has opened up new options.
He also explained the maturity of additive manufacturing is also effective in helping to solve part obsolescence for some of the airline's interior components.
According to the Aviation Week Network Fleet Discovery database, Nauru Airlines operates two 737-300s and one 737-800, aged between 21 to 27 years old.
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