Saturday, 14 August 2010 19:43 Rene Acosta / Reporter
BusinessMirror
PHILIPPINE Airlines (PAL) has recovered from the impact of the illegal decision of its 25 pilots to leave the company, as it is already operating normally with no interruption in its regular service and flight schedule.
Jaime Bautista, PAL president and chief operating officer, also said the flag carriers’ problem with its employees, that is being conciliated with the Labor department, has not affected its operations.
“All of our scheduled flights are being followed. There are no cancellations because we do not lack pilots. Our schedule is normal and all of our 39 planes are flying,” Bautista said.
He said the absence of a demand for increased flights owing to the lean season and the presence of standby pilots working on high-level administrative jobs in the company have filled the gap that were left by the 25 pilots.
Still, Bautista said the company will push through with its decision to file charges against the pilots who left just to make them responsible and accountable for the contracts and agreements that they entered into.
“The pilots have not returned despite notices for them to come back which were sent through their families. We already started the documentation processes for the charges to be filed,” Bautista said on Saturday at a news forum in Quezon City.
On the company’s labor problem with the members of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (Palea), Bautista said the airline management expects the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to resolve the motion for reconsideration that was filed by the workers soon.
The flag carrier wants to outsource its catering services along with its ground handling and call-center operations to save P1 billion annually, an amount that Bautista said could be used to further improve PAL services and ensure the economic security of its employees.
The plan was approved by the Labor department but Palea appealed by filing a motion for reconsideration on June 28.
“In Asia, we are the only airline company now that has not outsourced its catering, ground handling and call- center operations. Our competitors are already buying from service providers,” Bautista said.
No government subsidy for PAL
BAUTISTA said the employees should also understand the position of the company, which is also the only airline in the region that is not receiving any subsidy from the government.
He said even competitive airline companies like Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines are being supported by their governments, which are among their biggest stockholders.
He said the money that PAL could save from outsourcing its three non-basic services would be used to improve its financial standing.
In addition, Bautista said the company is still reeling from the effects of the downgrading of the country’s aviation-safety status into Category 2 by the United States, partly because of the noncreation of an “independent” Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.
This prevented PAL from increasing its flights to the United States or in mounting direct flights to that country despite its acquisition of bigger aircraft, which could mean more passengers and bigger cargo handling.
Late Thursday, PAL assured the riding public that there will be no immediate strike from its ground and cabin crew unions.
But despite strike threats, Bautista remains hopeful that PAL, with the help from the Dole, can still find a peaceful and amicable solution to PAL’s labor problems. “After all,” he said, “PAL management continues to talk with the union representatives. We believe the negotiating table is still the best venue for resolving differences.”
Bautista assured PAL passengers that labor strikes—especially in public utilities like PAL—do not happen overnight. “There is a legal process involved which all parties must respect and adhere to, before any lockout or strike can materialize,” he explained.
Just the same, he said PAL has lined up measures like deployment of administrative staff and other personnel to help in case of emergency. “As part of our conditions of carriage, we commit to our passengers that we will bring them to their destination whether through extra flights or through PAL’s domestic and international interline partners,” he said.
PAL has a total of 134 interline partners—12 airlines in Southeast Asia, 11 in the US and Canada, 25 in Europe, 12 in the Middle East, three airlines in Japan and 10 in China. “In case of flight disruptions, our passengers can rest assured that we can transfer them to these airline partners,” Bautista explained.
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