Philippine Airlines Named CAPA Asia Pacific Airline Turnaround of the Year

This award is given to the airline that has had the most impressive turnaround while establishing an innovative strategic direction for its business and the industry. Philippine Airlines (PAL) CEO and chairman Dr Lucio Tan and PAL president & COO Jaime Bautista received the award from Mr Harbison. PAL was selected for its return to profitability and strong financial performance over the last two years, ending a string of losses. “PAL has launched a remarkable 15 destinations outside Asia over the last three years. Usually such ambitious expansion has a negative impact on financials but for PAL it has been able to complete an ambitious expansion phase while returning to profitability”, Mr Harbison said. “Since Lucio Tan took back control of PAL two years ago, the airline has been remarkably successful and significantly improved its long-term position and outlook.” PAL has invested in fleet renewal and new in-flight products, and has implemented several other service enhancements. CAPA noted that PAL had experienced improvements in its expanded international operation and is now planning a new phase of international growth. Domestically PAL has resumed expansion under a new strategy for the regional subsidiary PAL Express, which is also profitable again now.