Today, the Philippines has three major airlines namely Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, and AirAsia Philippines. There are also smaller players like Royal Air, Pan Pacific Airlines, Sunlight Air, Air Swift, and Skyjet. Way back, there were other airline brands in the Philippines which have disappeared due to mostly merges and acquisitions. In the case of Air Philippines, they still operate but under the name and style of PAL Express.
Airline brands like Air Manila International and Filipinas Orient Airways were merged into Philippine Airlines in 1973. SEA Air was merged with Tiger Airways Philippines and later on was bought by Cebu Pacific, becoming CebGo. Asian Spirit was bought by AMY Holdings in which it was rebranded as Zest Air. Later on, Zest Air signed a share swap deal with AirAsia Philippines which became AirAsia Zest. The partnership was formalized and AirAsia Zest became Philippines AirAsia.
In the case of Grand Air, they had to cease operations due to their debt. Same as Spirit of Manila Airlines which ceased operations after barely 3 months.
Many of us has had a memory or two in at least one of these airline brands. While some of their companies still exist like Air Philippines Inc., their previous brand names are now a memory. Like for Zest Air, we remember their flight attendants in those sporty green and orange get-up!
Now, if you are given a chance to resurrect at least one of these defunct airline brands in the Philippines, what would it be? We are only talking about the brand, and not the company itself.
If you also want to read more about some of these defunct airlines, you may find an article written here.
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