ANA Holdings, the parent of Japan’s largest carrier All Nippon Airways, has signed an agreement to acquire a 9.5% stake in the Philippines’ PAL Holdings for $95m. ANA will acquire the shares from Trustmark Holdings Corporation, the largest shareholder in PAL Holdings. The Filipino company operates the country’s flag carrier Philippine Airlines. Philippine Airlines has to date increased its fleet and network to almost 100 aircraft and 80 destinations. It launched the first Manila-Tokyo flight in 1.9k and currently operates 84 flights weekly on nine routes to Japan. Passengers from the Philippines to Japan grew by five times over the past five years, said Shinya Katanozaka, ANA Holdings President and CEO. “Asia is a key growth market and we believe Philippine Airlines is in an excellent operational position to capitalise on both the strong uptick in air traffic growth as well as the vibrant, expanding Philippine economy,"