Air Phillipines Boeing 737 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is investing $750 million in Philippine Airlines (PAL) and affiliate Air Philippines Corp. to help finance a $1-billion refleeting plan for the flag carrier.
In an interview with The STAR, SMC and soon to be PAL president Ramon S. Ang said they plan to order at least 100 new planes for PAL and Air Philippines.
The 100 new planes, including single-aisle and twin-aisle models, will be divided across PAL and Air Philippines. Ang didn’t say how many aircraft the carriers would retire.
Ang also disclosed that they will be doing more business with Boeing Co.
PAL also plans to resume flights to Europe and bolster services to the United States, although the latter will have to wait until after US federal aviation authorities return the Philippines to Category I from its current Category 2 status.
PAL’s long-haul expansion plans depend on the Philippines improving safety standards, Ang said. The country is blacklisted by the European Union and has a Category 2 rating from the US Federal Aviation Administration, meaning it does not meet international regulations.
PAL will “immediately” resume flights to Europe once Philippine carriers are allowed in, Ang said, listing Paris, London and Spain as possible destinations. In the U.S., the carrier is looking at New York, Chicago and Florida, he said. It already flies to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Vancouver in North America.
SMC and PAL majority owner Lucio Tan earlier signed investment agreements that will result in the issuance of new shares to the former for a minority stake in PAL and low-cost partner Air Phil.
Under the agreement, Trustmark Holdings Corp. and Zuma Holdings and Management Corp., the holding companies of PAL and Air Phil will issue new shares to San Miguel Equity Investments Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of SMC.
Trustmark and Zuma are majority owned by Tan.
The agreement will result in SMC owning more than 40 percent of PAL.
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=801320&publicationSubCategoryId=66
No comments:
Post a Comment