Despite labor row, PAL reports 10% increase in holiday bookings

By EMMIE V. ABADILLA
Manila Bulletin
December 11, 2010, 1:03am

MANILA, Philippines – Despite its labor woes, confirmed flight bookings on Philippine Airlines (PAL) for this month, the peak season of holiday travel, registered a 10 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

Close to 90 percent of PAL's booked passengers have been issued confirmed tickets for Manila-inbound flights, indicative of the travelers' trust in PAL's ability to fly them to their destinations.
Based on sales data, almost all flights coming from the United States are full, registering the highest number of forward bookings, followed by those coming from Australia.

PAL's traditionally packed flights every December are those coming from North America, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. Between Christmas and New Year, PAL's airplanes are filled with vacationers bound for Kalibo, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore and China.

Last year, PAL carried some 9.2 million passengers or an average of 25,630 passengers per day. This number goes up by as much as 30 percent with the onset of the Christmas peak season as thousands of tourists, returning residents and Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) spending Christmas with their families.

Malacañang made a public appeal to the PAL Employees Association (PALEA) to defer any work stoppage while the Palace exhausts all means to resolve the labor dispute. Earlier, the PAL workers’ union held a strike vote. PAL questioned the legal basis for the strike.

Still, "Many of our inbound passengers finalized their travel plans after Malacañang's appeal to PALEA. Most of them are hopeful that through Malacanang’s intercession and PALEA’s cooperation – ‘in the spirit of Christmas’ – they would be able to spend the holidays with their loved ones," according to PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna.

PAL assured its passengers of normal operations even as it questioned the legality of PALEA's strike vote. "While the strike vote threatens to spoil the holiday travel plans of thousands of Filipinos, PAL is exerting all efforts to ensure continued safe and reliable service," she noted.

While PALEA's the strike vote did not cause any flight cancellations and no significant withdrawal of passenger bookings have been noted, "We advise our passengers to come to the airport early – at least two hours before the intended departure time – to avoid long queues and other inconveniences that usually occur during this time of the year," Villaluna announced.

“With heavy traffic, huge volume of passengers and tighter security checks as the holiday season nears, we request our passengers to devote enough lead time when going to the airport,” she advised.
Earlier, Philippine Airlines (PAL) welcomed the decision of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III to designate Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa to broker talks between PAL and its ground workers’ union.

In a statement, PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said the flag carrier wants to finally resolve the issue of whether or not the PAL Employees Association (PALEA) has legal grounds to conduct a strike vote, much less engage in a work stoppage.

“PAL appreciates President Aquino’s concern and desire to put closure to the PAL-PALEA dispute. Like the President, PAL believes that the public deserves a quick resolution to this issue so as not to further cause anxiety to thousands of passengers who have already firmed up their holiday travel plans,” she said.