Philippine Airlines and its LCC offshoot AirPhilsXpress are no longer under the control of the Tan family and have been acquired by the San Miguel Corporation for an undisclosed sum. The Tan family patriarch, Lucio, who also owns Philippine National Bank, Asia Breweries and Tanduay, handed control of his airline interests to his sister Lia a few years ago since which time it has suffered quite severe financial problems. In an attempt to stem cash haemorrhaging from the business, PAL decided to outsource much of its ground operations, including reservations, to third parties. San Miguel is promising to invest heavily in the airlines with new aircraft acquisitions, both leased and owned, and says it intends to build a new 2000 hectare airport somewhere in the National Capital Region. This is likely to be in Bonifacio City as the major requirements are that it sited within one hour of the new casino complex being built on reclaimed land in Manila Bay and also be close to Makati. This will be good news for British jobs as it is believed that PAL/APX's future aircraft acquisitions will be almost exclusively Airbus.
Whilst San Miguel has a reputation as a well run business the proposd land reclamation and casino are very controversial. I don't think one could build an airport in Bonifacio City, but what PAL/San Mig seem to be saying is that they don't like the idea of Clark as the new national airport. I suspect that the reasons for this are political. San Miguel is effectively a Cojuanco fiefdom, i.e. it is politcally aligned with the Cojuanco-Aquino dynasty, whose origins and major land holdings are in Tarlac Clark is in Pampanga, home of the Macapagal-Arroyo dynasty. I do not expect to see a new airport any time soon.
A few Press links: http://business.inquirer.net/115505/san-miguel-infuses-p1b-in-philippine-airlines http://business.inquirer.net/79584/pal-plans-to-build-philippines-biggest-airport http://centreforaviation.com/analys...re-after-exiting-budget-carrier-sector-103430
