PAL survives pandemic crush, to add more flights in 2022
MANILA, Philippines – Flagship carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) has completed its financial restructuring, as required by a recovery plan approved by a United States banckruptcy court, marking its survival from the pandemic crush of the last two years.
PAL said it has “emerged” or finished its Chapter 11 proceedings, a United States process under which companies file for help from bankruptcy.
“PAL successfully completed its financial restructuring within four months, in contrast to other airlines that remain in the Chapter 11 process more than a year after filing in 2020,” said PAL in a statement on Friday, December 31.
A US bankruptcy court approved PAL’s recovery plan earlier this month under what is called the Chapter 11 process. Part of the court grant was removal of $2 billion worth of debts.
The court grant was through “100% of the votes cast by its primary aircraft lessors and lenders, original equipment manufacturers and maintenance, repair, and overhaul service providers, and certain funded debt lenders.”
PAL said part of its restructuring was additional liquidity of US$505 million investment in long-term equity and debt financing from PAL’s majority shareholder.
Because of that, PAL said it will be “restoring more routes and increasing flight frequencies as travel restrictions ease and borders reopen, including the resumption of regular flights to multiple cities in mainland China, full regularization of flights to Australia and the commencement of historic new services to Israel.”
PAL said it will also be “offering year-round great value fares and competitive promotional offers.”
PAL suffered a P73-billion loss in 2020 – its fourth straight year in the red – after the COVID-19 pandemic’s crushing impacts on the aviation industry. – Rappler.com