Philippine Airlines Air Cargo Profile

Philippine Airlines was founded in 1941 and is the flag carrier of the Philippines, widely cited as Asia's oldest commercial airline still operating under its original name. It is owned by the LT Group through PAL Holdings, the holding company controlled by businessman Lucio Tan, and is headquartered in Pasay, Metro Manila. The carrier operates under the ICAO code PAL and the callsign PHILIPPINE. As of 2024 to 2025 it remained outside the three global alliances, though it accepted an invitation to join oneworld with membership scheduled for 2027.

The airline's freight operation was rebranded PAL Cargo in June 2025, refreshing a business that had previously traded under the PAL name. PAL Cargo carries no dedicated freighters and relies entirely on the belly holds of the passenger fleet. Widebody capacity comes from Airbus A330-300s, Airbus A350-900s, the newly delivered A350-1000, and Boeing 777-300ERs, supplemented by Airbus A321neo and A320 narrowbodies and DHC-8-Q400 turboprops operated by subsidiary PAL Express. Management has said it is studying freighters but favors passenger metal at slot-constrained Manila.

Cargo is a relatively small share of the group, contributing about USD 159.7 million, or roughly 5 percent of revenue, in 2024, with a stated goal of raising that to 8 or 9 percent. Volumes reached about 52,600 tonnes in the first quarter of 2025. Cargo hubs span Manila (MNL), Cebu (CEB), Clark (CRK), and Davao (DVO), feeding lanes to North America, East Asia, the Middle East, and Australia. General cargo and perishables such as seafood and fresh produce are core traffic, and forwarders can book capacity digitally through the cargo.one marketplace.