Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) committed to continue flying Monday, (March 15) on its 80th year anniversary.
"PAL is alive, we're still here, and we're here to stay. This great lady - Philippine Airlines - will stay aloft while she is in our care," President and COO Gilbert Santa Maria stated after a dawn open air Mass celebrated by Rev. Father Jose Winston Margate at the grounds of NAIA Terminal 2.
Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the flag carrier focused on repatriation and cargo transport efforts, as well as rebuilding its network of commercial flights on key international and domestic routes.
PAL carried home 310,000 of the displaced 420,000 Overseas Filipinos to their respective provinces from March 2020 up to the present.
Within the same period, tens of thousands of foreign nationals flew back to their home countries via PAL.
At present, the airline is airlifting shipments of anti-COVID vaccines to various areas in Mindanao, Luzon and the Visayas.
Already, the flag carrier has restored regular commercial flights to the U.S., Canada, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and several Asian countries as well as most of its domestic trunk and inter-island routes. The PAL President concluded his statement with the Knights Templar Motto: "Non nobis, Domine, nonnobis, sed Nomini tuo da gloriam (Not for us, My Lord, not for us, but to your Name give the glory)."