Good vibes and positive attitude pervade the headquarters of flag-carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL). The buzzword going around its corridors is agreement.

From what I heard, “everything looks good” with the majority of the airline’s creditors in agreement and have accepted the haircut based on their financial exposure. Today is the deadline for the acceptance.

After this, the final step is the confirmation, scheduled on the 17^th. The New York court will have to give its stamp of approval to the financial rehabilitation program filed last September. As projected, by the end of the year PAL will bow out of Chapter 11, resurfacing and bouncing back from the rough ride of rain clouds and thunderstorms.

If all systems go, the getting out of Chapter 11 unlocks the exit facility, worth roughly around $205 million. Heard a number of international foreign fund managers have reportedly indicated their willingness to participate in the facility.

Still, it is desirable for local lenders to take part in the facility. Guess, this opens up the avenue for the national government to support the flag carrier. Secretary Carlos “Sonny” Dominguez, early on, assured the government is ready to assist the flag carrier on condition that the national government would not own it. Well, the assistance does not altogether mean shelling out money from the national coffers, but through government controlled banks.

Words going around the banking community and reading from the overtures coming from the headquarters along Diosdado Macapagal avenue, PAL is renewing its loan application with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and the Land Bank of the Philippines.

It’s a tacit sovereign support for PAL as SecFin Sonny chairs Landbank. Previously, DBP and Land Bank sat on the loan application of PAL despite its reduced amount of $75 million, half of the originally filed $150 million.

This will clear the atmosphere for PAL’s operation as it will no longer fly through rough skies and tumble in air pockets.

But, then again, the friendly skies appear not too friendly. There’s a dark cloud emerging in the horizon that may again suppress, hobble the operations of the flag carrier and other airlines, both local and foreign.

It is too early to tell if we will be back to strict mobility as the authorities have already ordered a lockdown against foreign travelers because of the Omicron threat.

Clearly closing our borders to tourists will trickle down to our economic recovery, stunting our growth momentum. It is unfortunate, especially at this time when travel is picking-up. This may push back our economic growth potential should the government, again, for safety and health reasons prevent us from travelling or make it more cumbersome to comply with requirements.

Last year, tourism direct gross value added dropped to 5.4 percent from a high of 12.8 percent in 2019 while the average share of tourism-travel-related activities to the economy stood at 10.5 percent.

Wishing that the wheels of business will traverse a smooth path with Omicron potholes out of the way and not derail the travel intention of the members of our family and friends abroad to spend the holiday season here.

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