PAL elects new director

MANILA, Philippines — PAL Holdings Inc. has elected a new director to serve as a representative of Japan’s ANA in its board.

PAL, in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, said its board of directors approved the election of Junichir? Miyagawa as director of PAL Holdings.

Miyagawa joined ANA in 1984 and on April last year, was appointed as ANA executive vice president and member of the board, alliances and international affairs.

Miyagawa replaces Ryuhei Maeda, who earlier this month announced his retirement as director of PAL Holdings Inc. and Philippine Airlines.

Maeda represented ANA Holdings in the PAL board following the company’s acquisition of a 9.5 percent shares in PAL Holdings in January 2019.

Meanwhile, PAL’s board has also agreed to postpone the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting, usually done every last Thursday of May, to a later date as its board may decide.

PAL said the postponement is due to the delayed completion of corporate records.

PAL earlier assured the public that it is here to stay amid the challenges brought by the pandemic to the aviation industry.

“Our message to our country and the world: 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,” PAL president and COO Gilbert Santa Maria said during the airline’s 80th anniversary last month.

Santa Maria, in a letter to PAL employees in February, said the company’s comprehensive financial restructuring, which marks the next phase of its recovery journey, would soon be under way.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, PAL said it has been focusing on repatriation and cargo transport efforts as well as rebuilding its network of commercial flights on key international and domestic routes.

PAL also continues to transport COVID-19 vaccines as part of its ongoing partnership with the government.