PAL bares 1,800 job openings

Manila Bulletin
October 7, 2011
By Anjo Perez

MANILA, Philippines — The service provider of flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) is in a mass hiring mode with 1,800 job openings for ground handling and customer service agent positions.

This was announced Thursday by SkyLogistics and SkyKitchens president Rory Jon Sepulveda who said they need to fill the posts vacated by former PAL Employee Association (PALEA) members who went on a wildcat strike last week.

Sepulveda said that SkyLogistics and SkyKitchen are in urgent need of highly skilled drivers to operate ground-handling equipment such as tugs and cargo loaders as well as customer service agents to man the check-in and reservation counters.

“Currently, we have two batches of ground equipment operators who are undergoing intensive training. They have to undergo the training before we can allow them to operate the different machines that attach to the aircraft,” Sepulveda said.

Sepulveda said most of their applicants are highly skilled drivers who were recently displaced in the Middle East. “However, they still have to undergo the mandatory 20-day training before we allow them out on the tarmac.”

The new service providers of Philippine Airlines are swiftly adjusting to the pace and new work setup for ground-handling and catering at the flag carrier’s hub in NAIA Terminal 2.

Both SkyLogistics and Sky Kitchen are now functional and are providing services to PAL’s operations, Sepulveda said, adding that former PAL workers who joined the two firms, new hires, PAL administration volunteers, and other service providers work together to ensure that passengers are properly serviced from the check-in counters, to baggage-handling and in-flight catering. “May bayanihan ngayon sa airport. Imagine, pati yung ibang ground service providers (DNata and MacroAsia) ay tumutulong sa PAL habang hindi pa kumpleto ang staff namin.”

“SkyGroup is proud that in the few days that it officially began serving PAL flights, the airline’s on-time performance and schedule reliability have greatly improved,” he said.

Although he admitted that PAL’s manpower complement remains short, as only 30 percent of former PALEAns opted to join the two service firms, Sepulveda said the SkyGroup has opened its doors to skilled workers interested in taking jobs either as customer service agents, ground equipment operators, drivers, baggage handlers, mechanics, cooks, production staff, and many others.

“We are now aggressively screening and processing applications to fill up these positions. There are also ex-PALEAns who come to the office daily to apply for jobs,” Sepulveda said.

He stressed that while the September 30 deadline requested by PAL management has lapsed, SkyGroup is open to applicants while vacancies last. “The only difference between PAL employees whom we took in before the deadline is that they were guaranteed the jobs."