PAL wins 2 global awards for restructuring program
By Emmie V. Abadilla
Philippine Airlines (PAL) garnered two awards from Europe-based international publications for its financial restructuring scheme involving cross-border agreements with major creditors plus a $505 million capital infusion from the family of shareholder Lucio C. Tan.
Airline Economics magazine named the flag carrier's 2021 pre-negotiated Chapter 11 restructuring agreement as "Asia Pacific's Restructuring Deal of the Year" while AirFinance Journal conferred it with the "Deal of the Year" award.
PAL Senior Financial Advisor Ian Reid accepted the awards at the respective awarding ceremonies held recently in Dublin, Ireland.
"We are grateful for this honor, and we thank the hard work of the PAL team, the all-out support of stakeholders and the determination of our Chairman, Dr. Lucio C. Tan to strengthen PAL to meet the challenges of the future," PAL President and COO Capt. Stanley Ng stated.
However, "We will not rest on our laurels and persevere in our efforts to complete PAL's recovery and reclaim its place in the aviation world," he pledged.
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The Airline Economics Aviation 100 Awards reward resilience and ingenuity in a challenging environment for the worldwide aviation industry.
Airline Economics is the flagship publication of Aviation News Ltd. dedicated to commercial aviation finance and leasing.
"The Aviation 100 Awards celebrate the diligence and commitment of aviation executives and financiers throughout one of the industry’s darkest periods," remarked Victoria Tozer-Pennington, editor and co-founder of Aviation News Ltd and Airline Economics.
Overall, they received more than 150 nominations for aviation finance and leasing transactions.
"The volume and innovation in these nominations made the judging process even more difficult but it also highlighted the record levels of financial support airlines and lessors have received over the past year," she explained.
For its part, AirFinance Journal Awards 2021 considered 30 categories across several regions.
PAL's Chapter 11 cross-border restructuring won as the Deal of the Year for the Asia Pacific region.