In photo during PAL’s 78th anniversary celebration at Century Park Hotel in Manila are (from left) Eric Tan, senior assistant vice president for sales; Ryan Uy, vice president for sales; Jaime Bautista, president and chief operating officer; Ria Domingo, vice president for marketing and Josen Perez de Tagle, vice president for corporate communications. (Philstar.com photo)

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines’ landmark investment deal with All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s largest airline group, was finalized this week.

ANA Holdings on Thursday, February 28 completed the acquisition of a 9.5-percent stake in the operator of PAL, PAL Holdings disclosed in a stock exchange filing.

The deal involved 1.1 billion shares of PAL Holdings, which were transferred to ANA via a special block sale at the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Previously, ANA announced in a joint statement with PAL that it was buying the stake for $9.5 million.

A disclosure showed that the funds made from the sale would be used by Lucio Tan, PAL’s controlling stockholder, “to continue its support for the operations and the potential expansion programs of Philippine Airlines.”

PAL last year won a four-star rating from Skytrax and shared its goal of becoming a five-star airline by 2020. Partnering with a five-star carrier like was seen to help achieve its target goal.

CAPA Center for Aviation chief analyst Brendan Sobie said PAL’s partnership with ANA has other benefits including the possibility of membership in a global airline alliance, which provides an expanded network and cost savings.

According to PAL President Jaime Bautista, they are fortifying ties by mounting more flights to Japan as well as deploying larger planes in certain routes to expand capacity.