The Philippine tourism industry expects to benefit from All Nippon Airways Holdings’ decision announced Tuesday to acquire a 9.5 percent stake in ANA buys 9.5 percent stake in PAL for $95 million
The Philippine tourism industry expects to benefit from All Nippon Airways Holdings’ decision announced Tuesday to acquire a 9.5 percent stake in Philippine Airlines (PAL) for $95 million.
The parent of All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s largest carrier, will be buying the shares from Trustmark Holdings, owned by the family of Filipino-Chinese tycoon Lucio Tan, who is the largest shareholder in PAL Holdings, the parent company of the Filipino carrier.
Tan, who is PAL chairman, had said several times in the past said he was open to selling a stake to strategic investors to raise the airline’s profile as one of the top in the world by 2020.
“PAL has long wanted investors to help us maximize our growth and development, so we can take our good progress so far to the next level,” PAL vice president for corporate communications, Jose Enrique Perez de Tagle told Skift.
The deal could go a long way to reinvigorating inbound Japanese tourism to the Philippines, tourism officials said. Jose Clemente III, president of the Tourism Congress of the Philippines, the leading tourism private sector organization in the country, said: “Through PAL’s wide domestic network, Japanese travelers will also be to see more destinations across the Philippines.”
In November, Australia-based AirlineRatings.com rated PAL the world’s most improved airline 2019. That same month, PAL received the Four Star Major Regional Airline 2019 award from New-York based Airline Passenger Experience Association, which it said was based on a verified passenger voting system.
In a statement, ANA Holdings president and CEO, Shinya Katanozaka, said, “Asia is a key growth market and we believe Philippine Airlines is in an excellent operational position to capitalize on both the strong upticks in air traffic growth as well as the vibrant, expanding Philippine economy.
