PAL hopes to recover losses from holiday travel demand

Sunstar.com.ph
Tuesday, October 25, 2011

PHILIPPINE Airlines (PAL) hopes that demand for air travel during the holidays will help offset losses caused by a work stoppage nearly one month ago.

“Hopefully we can make a turnaround by that time. However, in terms of projected revenues, it’s too early to say because we don’t have figures/estimate of forward bookings,” PAL vice president for corporate communications Joey de Guzman told Sun.Star.

PAL had to forego millions of dollars in income last September 27 after workers belonging to the ground crew union PAL Employees Association (Palea) refused to perform check-in, ramp and catering functions to express opposition to the airlines' outsourcing plan.

Prior to the incident, the airline also suspended some flights as part of the transition of responsibilities to the three service providers, Sky Logistics, Sky Kitchen, and Manny Pangilinan-led SPi Global.

But flight frequencies have continued to improve since then.

From a low of 40 percent capacity during PAL’s transition to third party service providers from September 27-October 3, the national carrier announced that its week-on-week capacity increases suggest that flight frequencies will reach normal levels by December.

“We are targeting 150-162 flights per day for the Christmas rush and that will start on December 16. But our peak season starts in the third week of November,” De Guzman said.

Palea-Mindanao board member Eugene Cosare finds the assumptions as baseless, saying the ongoing labor dispute will continue to hamper operations.

“It (PAL) has a chaotic scenario and the company’s transition period from trained employees to substandard contractual service providers won’t help to take off the company’s plan smoothly,” he told Sun.Star.

Starting October 28, PAL will fly an average of 125 flights daily covering international and domestic routes (inbound/outbound).

This number represents close to 90 percent of PAL’s 140 average flights per day prior to the work stoppage, which stemmed from Malacañang’s approval of the airline’s plan to lay-off 2,300 jobs to cut costs.

PAL president Jaime Bautista maintained that safety and service remain the cornerstones of PAL operations even as the outsourcing companies try to complete manpower requirements. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)