Philippine Airlines Announces Reopening

Philippine Airlines said it was reopening after forging a no-strike deal with its largest union, though militant workers vowed to continue opposing the deal. In several paid newspaper advertisements, the airline said it would offer 14 round-trip domestic flights from Manila starting Wednesday and apologized to the public for problems caused by its shutdown last month. The debt-ridden airline, Asia’s oldest, closed on Sept. 23 after failing to persuade its ground crew union to accept a management-proposed recovery plan that would impose a 10-year suspension on the right to strike and negotiate a collective-bargaining agreement. Its closure left much of the Philippine archipelago without air service, prompting President Joseph Estrada to enlist Cathay Pacific to fly PAL’s domestic routes to avoid damage to the economy.