PHNO-BE: PHILIPPINE AIRLINES TO BUY 54 AIRBUS JETS; $7 BILLION DEAL

PHILIPPINE AIRLINES TO BUY 54 AIRBUS
JETS; $7 BILLLION DEAL

MANILA, AUGUST 30, 2012
(CANADIAN BUSINESS.COM) By AP — Flag-carrier Philippine Airlines
signed a $7 billion deal on Tuesday to buy 54 Airbus jets as part of an
ambitious plan to overhaul its fleet to meet higher demands of transporting
passengers and cargo in Asia, the Middle East and Australia, airline officials
said.
PAL President Ramon Ang said the first batch of about a dozen wide-body
A330-300s and A321s would be delivered in January while the rest of the aircraft
would be put in service in the next three years.
The acquisition, the largest single aircraft order ever made by a Philippine
carrier, would more than double the airline's passenger and cargo handling
capacity and signals an expansion phase after Philippine food and beer
conglomerate San Miguel Corp. acquired major stakes in PAL and its affiliate
budget carrier Air Philippines Corp. earlier this year.
PAL also plans to buy another 46 aircraft from Airbus and other
manufacturers, including Boeing, Ang told a news conference.
"The orders we are placing with Airbus will play a key role in revitalizing
PAL and growing trade and tourism in the country," PAL chairman Lucio Tan said.

Twenty-six of the 100 airplanes the airline wants to buy would be for
long-distance journeys, like Manila to New York and to Paris, Ang said.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland suggested
American officials have lobbied for Boeing to get the aircraft deal with PAL but
added the awarding of the contract to Airbus would not affect Washington's
relations with the Philippines, which has been bolstered in recent years.
Asked if the U.S. government lobbied for the Philippines to award the deal to
Boeing over Airbus, Nuland said: "We always advocate for U.S. companies,
particularly when there's a big contract at stake."
"But, you know, nations make sovereign decisions and they make them based on
their own set of criteria," Nuland said.
A Philippine Airlines official said the company awarded the huge contract
based purely on business criteria and without prejudice to any company. The
official spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authority to talk to
reporters.
___
Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington contributed
to this report from Washington.


Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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