Philippine Daily Inquirer
December 8, 2009
By Paolo Montecillo
FLAG CARRIER PHILIPPINE Airlines (PAL) plans to raise air fares to key Asian destinations as a way to cope with rising fuel costs.
PAL has sought a regulatory nod to hike its fuel surcharge, passenger pay on top of published ticket rates, for flights between Manila and Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
?PAL has filed with the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) a petition for authority to impose an upward adjustment of fuel surcharge on its international operations,? documents at the regulator showed.
The fuel surcharge for flights to Taiwan will be hiked to $12 per person from the current $9.
Japan tickets, meanwhile, will have a surcharge of $39 each, from the previous $37. Tickets to Korea will have a similar $2 adjustment to $34 from $32 Tuesday.
Data from the International Air Transport Association shows the price of jet fuel at $84 per barrel as of the end of last month. This is 14 percent higher than the cost of fuel in the same period last year.
Oil costs make up more than a third of PAL?s total expenses.
Flights to the three Asian destinations are among PAL?s busiest, with the airline flying eight times weekly to Taiwan.
In Korea, PAL flies twice a week to Pusan and twice a day to Seoul for a total of 16 weekly flights.
Meanwhile, PAL has five weekly flights to Fukuoka in Japan, once a day to both Nagoya and Tokyo via Narita for a total of 26 flights a week to Japan from Manila.
PAL also has six weekly flights to Tokyo from Cebu.
Despite losing its lead in the domestic arena to rival Gokongwei-led Cebu Pacific, PAL still holds the distinction as the country?s leading airline with its international operations unmatched by any other local carrier.
The CAB will hold a hearing regarding PAL?s petition on Dec. 16.
Government data showed that in the first six months of the year, PAL carried more than 1.7 million passengers in and out of the country. This is more than double the 797,523 million passengers its rival Cebu Pacific ferried in the same period.
PAL posted an $18.6-million net loss in the April-September period?the first half of the airline?s fiscal year. This is much lower than the $113 million in losses the airline incurred a year earlier.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
PAL expands Australian operations, Adds Brisbane to its international network
The Manila Times
December 6, 2009
MANILA, Philippines—Philippine Airlines (PAL) on Sunday said it will expand its Australian operations when it returns to Brisbane in March 2010.
In a statement, the flag carrier said it is eyeing a twice-weekly service to Brisbane in the Australian State of Queensland, and twice a week via Melbourne, using the 302-seater Airbus 330-300 jets.
“The addition of Brisbane service, our third destination in the country, is expected to boost PAL’s market performance as the Australian economy remains resilient amidst the crippling worldwide recession,” said PAL president Jaime J. Bautista.
“With the Brisbane service, we expect to make the existing Australian routes more profitable as we cater to more passengers flying to and from the country including the Filipino migrant community, tourists, and businessmen considering its constantly growing market,” he added.
Bautista said will continue to fly to Sydney and Melbourne five times a week. Sydney will be served exclusively by PAL's new B777-300ER aircraft which features the latest Recaro full-flat seats in Business class and Weber seats with in-seat videos in Economy.
Brisbane is the third most popular tourist destination in Australia, next to Sydney and Melbourne. It is renowned for its rich culture, architecture, and landscape and is famous for its stature as a world city.
December 6, 2009
MANILA, Philippines—Philippine Airlines (PAL) on Sunday said it will expand its Australian operations when it returns to Brisbane in March 2010.
In a statement, the flag carrier said it is eyeing a twice-weekly service to Brisbane in the Australian State of Queensland, and twice a week via Melbourne, using the 302-seater Airbus 330-300 jets.
“The addition of Brisbane service, our third destination in the country, is expected to boost PAL’s market performance as the Australian economy remains resilient amidst the crippling worldwide recession,” said PAL president Jaime J. Bautista.
“With the Brisbane service, we expect to make the existing Australian routes more profitable as we cater to more passengers flying to and from the country including the Filipino migrant community, tourists, and businessmen considering its constantly growing market,” he added.
Bautista said will continue to fly to Sydney and Melbourne five times a week. Sydney will be served exclusively by PAL's new B777-300ER aircraft which features the latest Recaro full-flat seats in Business class and Weber seats with in-seat videos in Economy.
Brisbane is the third most popular tourist destination in Australia, next to Sydney and Melbourne. It is renowned for its rich culture, architecture, and landscape and is famous for its stature as a world city.
Friday, October 23, 2009
PAL workers willing to settle in row over outsourcing plan
Business World
October 22, 2009
By Louella D. Desiderio
RANK-AND-FILE Philippine Airlines (PAL) employees are seeking discussions with the airline management outside the Labor department’s supervision on the company’s plan to outsource "non-core" services.
PAL Employees Association (PALEA) President Edgardo C. Oredina said in a telephone interview yesterday that the group has sent a letter to PAL Chairman Lucio C. Tan asking the management to reconsider its plan to outsource ground-handling jobs.
He said the group stated in the letter that it was willing to forge a compromise agreement to help the management cope with the economic downturn. "We would like to discuss with the PAL management other cost-saving measures to address the crisis and prevent the implementation of the outsourcing plan," he said.
The management’s decision to outsource, he said, came at a time when union members were suffering from the harsh effects of tropical storm Ondoy.
The letter was submitted to the office of Mr. Tan on Oct. 8, the same date that PALEA asked for a suspension of preventive mediation at the National Mediation and Conciliation Board.
"We opted to suspend the proceedings because nothing is happening. There is no change in PAL’s position on the planned outsourcing," Mr. Oredina said.
With no hope of reaching an agreement with the PAL management, the group had considered taking "mass action" to oppose the outsourcing plan, which the union claims will leave as much as 4,000 workers jobless.
He said the group later decided to defer protests after PAL President Jaime J. Bautista informed him by telephone last week that the serving of notices of termination to employees under departments set to be outsourced would not push through and that the management would meet with the PALEA for further talks.
The talks, he said would likely take place next week.
Mr. Bautista could not be reached for comment yesterday.
On Sept. 22, PALEA filed a request for preventive mediation at the Labor department over the airline’s plan to outsource services including catering, passenger handling, ramp handling, and cargo-handling operations.
The plan was disclosed by Mr. Bautista to union officials in a notice dated Sept. 9. In the notice, Mr. Bautista said some services needed to be outsourced to prevent further losses and preserve the airline’s assets.
PAL has more than 8,000 employees, with half belonging to the rank-and-file union.
In 1998, PAL was forced to go into receivership in the aftermath of the Asian crisis. It returned to profit in 2000 and was declared in financial health two years ago.
For the fiscal year ending March, PAL lost $301.4 million as a result of higher expenses brought about by the cost of operating more flights and last year’s record-high fuel prices. The airline, however, reported $35.5 million in profits for its first quarter ending June. - Businessworld.
October 22, 2009
By Louella D. Desiderio
RANK-AND-FILE Philippine Airlines (PAL) employees are seeking discussions with the airline management outside the Labor department’s supervision on the company’s plan to outsource "non-core" services.
PAL Employees Association (PALEA) President Edgardo C. Oredina said in a telephone interview yesterday that the group has sent a letter to PAL Chairman Lucio C. Tan asking the management to reconsider its plan to outsource ground-handling jobs.
He said the group stated in the letter that it was willing to forge a compromise agreement to help the management cope with the economic downturn. "We would like to discuss with the PAL management other cost-saving measures to address the crisis and prevent the implementation of the outsourcing plan," he said.
The management’s decision to outsource, he said, came at a time when union members were suffering from the harsh effects of tropical storm Ondoy.
The letter was submitted to the office of Mr. Tan on Oct. 8, the same date that PALEA asked for a suspension of preventive mediation at the National Mediation and Conciliation Board.
"We opted to suspend the proceedings because nothing is happening. There is no change in PAL’s position on the planned outsourcing," Mr. Oredina said.
With no hope of reaching an agreement with the PAL management, the group had considered taking "mass action" to oppose the outsourcing plan, which the union claims will leave as much as 4,000 workers jobless.
He said the group later decided to defer protests after PAL President Jaime J. Bautista informed him by telephone last week that the serving of notices of termination to employees under departments set to be outsourced would not push through and that the management would meet with the PALEA for further talks.
The talks, he said would likely take place next week.
Mr. Bautista could not be reached for comment yesterday.
On Sept. 22, PALEA filed a request for preventive mediation at the Labor department over the airline’s plan to outsource services including catering, passenger handling, ramp handling, and cargo-handling operations.
The plan was disclosed by Mr. Bautista to union officials in a notice dated Sept. 9. In the notice, Mr. Bautista said some services needed to be outsourced to prevent further losses and preserve the airline’s assets.
PAL has more than 8,000 employees, with half belonging to the rank-and-file union.
In 1998, PAL was forced to go into receivership in the aftermath of the Asian crisis. It returned to profit in 2000 and was declared in financial health two years ago.
For the fiscal year ending March, PAL lost $301.4 million as a result of higher expenses brought about by the cost of operating more flights and last year’s record-high fuel prices. The airline, however, reported $35.5 million in profits for its first quarter ending June. - Businessworld.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
PAL loses P3-b labor case
Manila Standard
Oct. 7, 2009
THE Supreme Court has ordered the labor arbiter to compute the compensation due some 1,400 cabin crew that Philippine Airlines retrenched in 1998 after the flag carrier was placed under corporate rehabilitation.
The high court’s order came after it affirmed its decision in July 2008 declaring as illegal PAL’s dismissal of the cabin crew, and then tossed back the case to the labor arbiter so it could compute exactly how much the carrier owed them.
Initial estimates showed that Philippine Airlines owed the employees P3 billion, Daniel Reyes, the airline union’s lawyer, said earlier.
The Court said that the flight attendants who had reached retirement age or had died should receive back wages up to the date of their retirement.
Those who had not been re-employed by the carrier—including those who had executed quitclaims and received separation pay or financial assistance—should be reinstated without loss of seniority rights and paid full back wages. But the amounts they had already received should be deducted from whatever amounts were adjudged to them individually, the high court said.
It said the flight attendants who had obtained substantially equivalent or even more lucrative employment elsewhere in 1998 or after were deemed to have severed their employment with the carrier.
“They shall be entitled to full back wages from the date of their retrenchment only up to the date they found employment elsewhere,” the Court said.
PAL president Jaime Bautista said he was disappointed with the high court’s decision.
“While we have yet to receive a copy of the said decision, PAL is disappointed that the high tribunal did not appreciate our arguments that the termination of PAL employees, including [Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines] members in 1998, was necessitated by the fact that PAL was under rehabilitation, which is equivalent to Chapter 11 bankruptcy,” Bautista said in a statement.
“We will wait for the official copy of the Supreme Court decision to study its implication and determine our legal options,” he said.
Bautista last month told the Philippine Airlines Employees Association that management planned to outsource or spin off some units including catering, passenger handling, ramp handling and cargo handling because of heavy losses.
In response, the association said this planned “second wave of outsourcing” would affect the job security of the 2,000 to 4,000 employees assigned to those departments.
“It seems 10 years of labor sacrifice were not enough,” group president Gerry Rivera said. Rey E. Requejo
Oct. 7, 2009
THE Supreme Court has ordered the labor arbiter to compute the compensation due some 1,400 cabin crew that Philippine Airlines retrenched in 1998 after the flag carrier was placed under corporate rehabilitation.
The high court’s order came after it affirmed its decision in July 2008 declaring as illegal PAL’s dismissal of the cabin crew, and then tossed back the case to the labor arbiter so it could compute exactly how much the carrier owed them.
Initial estimates showed that Philippine Airlines owed the employees P3 billion, Daniel Reyes, the airline union’s lawyer, said earlier.
The Court said that the flight attendants who had reached retirement age or had died should receive back wages up to the date of their retirement.
Those who had not been re-employed by the carrier—including those who had executed quitclaims and received separation pay or financial assistance—should be reinstated without loss of seniority rights and paid full back wages. But the amounts they had already received should be deducted from whatever amounts were adjudged to them individually, the high court said.
It said the flight attendants who had obtained substantially equivalent or even more lucrative employment elsewhere in 1998 or after were deemed to have severed their employment with the carrier.
“They shall be entitled to full back wages from the date of their retrenchment only up to the date they found employment elsewhere,” the Court said.
PAL president Jaime Bautista said he was disappointed with the high court’s decision.
“While we have yet to receive a copy of the said decision, PAL is disappointed that the high tribunal did not appreciate our arguments that the termination of PAL employees, including [Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines] members in 1998, was necessitated by the fact that PAL was under rehabilitation, which is equivalent to Chapter 11 bankruptcy,” Bautista said in a statement.
“We will wait for the official copy of the Supreme Court decision to study its implication and determine our legal options,” he said.
Bautista last month told the Philippine Airlines Employees Association that management planned to outsource or spin off some units including catering, passenger handling, ramp handling and cargo handling because of heavy losses.
In response, the association said this planned “second wave of outsourcing” would affect the job security of the 2,000 to 4,000 employees assigned to those departments.
“It seems 10 years of labor sacrifice were not enough,” group president Gerry Rivera said. Rey E. Requejo
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
SC affirms ruling on PAL dismissal of cabin crew
Abs-cbn news
10/06/2009 9:00 PM
MANILA - The Supreme Court has affirmed with finality its July 22,2008 ruling that the dismissal of some 1,400 cabin crew personnel of local carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) was illegal.
In a 31-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, the Court’s Special Third Division denied for lack of merit the motion for reconsideration filed by PAL seeking the reversal of the ruling.
The High Tribunal held that the Lucio Tan-led airline’s reduction of personnel was illegal as it failed to comply with certain standards established under the law.
The Court dismissed PAL's claim that the pilots’ strike on June 5, 1998 caused the company to bleed financially, thus justifying the retrenchment of the flight attendants belonging to the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP).
“We find this argument untenable. The strike was a temporary occurrence that did not necessitate the immediate and sweeping retrenchment of 1,400 cabin or flight attendants,” the High Tribunal noted.
The Tribunal's 2008 decision has made PAL a landmark case that provided lessons to shaky companies that are considering retrenchment of its employees. It has also become a guide to labor unions and employees to detect forms of illegal dismissal. (Read: Retrenching workers? Don’t repeat PAL’s mistake)
Recently, PAL has offered early retirement packages to its employees until end-October as it plans to reduce its 8,000-strong workforce by at much as 10% this year.
At present, the company said manpower accounts for 18% of the company's total expenses.
Backwages, reinstatement
While affirming the core of its 2008 decision, the High Tribunal has reconsidered its previous order that PAL immediately reinstate the retrenched cabin crew, and pay their backwages and separation pay.
It said these are no longer feasible since a substantial fraction of the 1,400 flight attendants have already been recalled, reinstated, or relieved from the service while others have already reached the mandatory retirement age or even died. A good number of the retrenched employees have also received separation pay and signed quitclaim.
Previously, PAL's monetary award to the affected flight attendants would reach a whopping P2.3 billion.
Based on review of the case' records, the Supreme Court said that it will instead remanded the case to the labor arbiter “solely for the purpose of computing the exact amount of the award” to be given to the dismissed employees.
“After finality of this case, the records will have to be remanded to the labor arbiter who decided the case at the first instance. There the actual amount of PAL’s liability to each and every flight attendant will be computed. Both parties will have a chance to submit further proof and argument in support of their respective proposed computations,” the Court said.
The SC also reduced to P2 million the award of attorney’s fees and expenses of litigation. In its previous decision, the Court directed PAL to pay attorney’s fees equivalent to 10% of the total monetary award.
Pilots' strike
During the oral arguments on the case, the SC said PAL admitted that the principal and true reason it had to lay-off cabin personnel was not the downsizing of aircraft fleet size but the June 5, 1998 pilot’s strike, where around 600 of its pilots abandoned their planes and refused to fly.
As a result of this pilots’ strike, PAL said it suffered revenue losses equivalent to P100 million daily and P50 million of lost fixed costs.
The Court, however, held that there was no necessity for PAL to permanently implement its retrenchment scheme considering that the strike was only temporary.
It added that PAL could have implemented other cost cutting measures as temporary measure to defer the adverse effects of the pilots’ strike.
11 years after
After the 1998 retrenchement of the flight attendants, PAL is again reducing headcount to cut costs.
PAL is offering early retirement packages to its employees until end-October as it plans to reduce its 8,000-strong workforce by at much as 10% this year.
At present, the company said manpower accounts for 18% of the company's total expenses.
"We are currently reviewing our entire organizational set-up. We want to make PAL lean and mean so it will be agile and flexible enough to adapt to the new economic climate," PAL Holdings President Jaime Bautista previously told reporters during its recent annual stockholders meeting.
"We now have lower capacity, so we need to reduce manpower," Bautista explained.
Aside from reducing its workforce, Bautista confirmed that PAL will outsource its non-core services to prevent the company from incurring further losses.
In a notice sent to the PAL union early this month, he said services to be initially outsourced on November include catering, passenger handling, ramp handling, and cargo-handling operations.
Due to the brunt of the economic crisis on the global airline industry, PAL Holdings Inc. reported a total comprehensive loss of P12.26 billion for fiscal year ending March 31, 2009.
These losses are the holding firm's second in a row after losing P528.54 million in the previous year.
PAL has also reported a 12% drop in total revenues from April to June, its first quarter for fiscal year 2009.
Early this month, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said the global airline industry is likely to lose $11 billion this year due to the economic crisis, higher than its previous forecast of a $9-billion loss. IATA said this would be driven mainly by lower passenger and cargo traffic this year, which the group expects to drop by 4% and 14%, respectively.
10/06/2009 9:00 PM
MANILA - The Supreme Court has affirmed with finality its July 22,2008 ruling that the dismissal of some 1,400 cabin crew personnel of local carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) was illegal.
In a 31-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, the Court’s Special Third Division denied for lack of merit the motion for reconsideration filed by PAL seeking the reversal of the ruling.
The High Tribunal held that the Lucio Tan-led airline’s reduction of personnel was illegal as it failed to comply with certain standards established under the law.
The Court dismissed PAL's claim that the pilots’ strike on June 5, 1998 caused the company to bleed financially, thus justifying the retrenchment of the flight attendants belonging to the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP).
“We find this argument untenable. The strike was a temporary occurrence that did not necessitate the immediate and sweeping retrenchment of 1,400 cabin or flight attendants,” the High Tribunal noted.
The Tribunal's 2008 decision has made PAL a landmark case that provided lessons to shaky companies that are considering retrenchment of its employees. It has also become a guide to labor unions and employees to detect forms of illegal dismissal. (Read: Retrenching workers? Don’t repeat PAL’s mistake)
Recently, PAL has offered early retirement packages to its employees until end-October as it plans to reduce its 8,000-strong workforce by at much as 10% this year.
At present, the company said manpower accounts for 18% of the company's total expenses.
Backwages, reinstatement
While affirming the core of its 2008 decision, the High Tribunal has reconsidered its previous order that PAL immediately reinstate the retrenched cabin crew, and pay their backwages and separation pay.
It said these are no longer feasible since a substantial fraction of the 1,400 flight attendants have already been recalled, reinstated, or relieved from the service while others have already reached the mandatory retirement age or even died. A good number of the retrenched employees have also received separation pay and signed quitclaim.
Previously, PAL's monetary award to the affected flight attendants would reach a whopping P2.3 billion.
Based on review of the case' records, the Supreme Court said that it will instead remanded the case to the labor arbiter “solely for the purpose of computing the exact amount of the award” to be given to the dismissed employees.
“After finality of this case, the records will have to be remanded to the labor arbiter who decided the case at the first instance. There the actual amount of PAL’s liability to each and every flight attendant will be computed. Both parties will have a chance to submit further proof and argument in support of their respective proposed computations,” the Court said.
The SC also reduced to P2 million the award of attorney’s fees and expenses of litigation. In its previous decision, the Court directed PAL to pay attorney’s fees equivalent to 10% of the total monetary award.
Pilots' strike
During the oral arguments on the case, the SC said PAL admitted that the principal and true reason it had to lay-off cabin personnel was not the downsizing of aircraft fleet size but the June 5, 1998 pilot’s strike, where around 600 of its pilots abandoned their planes and refused to fly.
As a result of this pilots’ strike, PAL said it suffered revenue losses equivalent to P100 million daily and P50 million of lost fixed costs.
The Court, however, held that there was no necessity for PAL to permanently implement its retrenchment scheme considering that the strike was only temporary.
It added that PAL could have implemented other cost cutting measures as temporary measure to defer the adverse effects of the pilots’ strike.
11 years after
After the 1998 retrenchement of the flight attendants, PAL is again reducing headcount to cut costs.
PAL is offering early retirement packages to its employees until end-October as it plans to reduce its 8,000-strong workforce by at much as 10% this year.
At present, the company said manpower accounts for 18% of the company's total expenses.
"We are currently reviewing our entire organizational set-up. We want to make PAL lean and mean so it will be agile and flexible enough to adapt to the new economic climate," PAL Holdings President Jaime Bautista previously told reporters during its recent annual stockholders meeting.
"We now have lower capacity, so we need to reduce manpower," Bautista explained.
Aside from reducing its workforce, Bautista confirmed that PAL will outsource its non-core services to prevent the company from incurring further losses.
In a notice sent to the PAL union early this month, he said services to be initially outsourced on November include catering, passenger handling, ramp handling, and cargo-handling operations.
Due to the brunt of the economic crisis on the global airline industry, PAL Holdings Inc. reported a total comprehensive loss of P12.26 billion for fiscal year ending March 31, 2009.
These losses are the holding firm's second in a row after losing P528.54 million in the previous year.
PAL has also reported a 12% drop in total revenues from April to June, its first quarter for fiscal year 2009.
Early this month, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said the global airline industry is likely to lose $11 billion this year due to the economic crisis, higher than its previous forecast of a $9-billion loss. IATA said this would be driven mainly by lower passenger and cargo traffic this year, which the group expects to drop by 4% and 14%, respectively.
Monday, October 5, 2009
PAL slashes all its domestic fares
(The Freeman) Updated October 04, 2009 12:00 AM
CEBU, Philippines - Philippine Air Lines is slashing all its domestic fares by P400 as additional financial assistance in the wake of massive devastation wrought by tropical storm Ondoy over the weekend.
Dubbed as BIYAHEnihan, according to Jonathan Gesmundo of the PAL, the P400 fare reduction is applicable on one-way tickets to any domestic destination of PAL and PAL Express.
“This is a way of assisting typhoon victims and their relatives to fly to Manila or to the province to enable them to be with their families,” Gesmundo said in a press release sent to The FREEMAN.
Gesmundo said the tickets may be bought through the PAL or PAL Express websites and or ticket offices or any accredited travel agents before October 8.
The travel must be completed by October 31.
Earlier, PAL offered to airlift for free selected donations from the provinces for the typhoon victims addressed to any reputable, non-profit charitable organization in Manila. — Garry B. Lao/BRP (FREEMAN NEWS)
CEBU, Philippines - Philippine Air Lines is slashing all its domestic fares by P400 as additional financial assistance in the wake of massive devastation wrought by tropical storm Ondoy over the weekend.
Dubbed as BIYAHEnihan, according to Jonathan Gesmundo of the PAL, the P400 fare reduction is applicable on one-way tickets to any domestic destination of PAL and PAL Express.
“This is a way of assisting typhoon victims and their relatives to fly to Manila or to the province to enable them to be with their families,” Gesmundo said in a press release sent to The FREEMAN.
Gesmundo said the tickets may be bought through the PAL or PAL Express websites and or ticket offices or any accredited travel agents before October 8.
The travel must be completed by October 31.
Earlier, PAL offered to airlift for free selected donations from the provinces for the typhoon victims addressed to any reputable, non-profit charitable organization in Manila. — Garry B. Lao/BRP (FREEMAN NEWS)
Thursday, October 1, 2009
PAL hit hard by slowdown in international traffic
By Mary Ann LL. Reyes (The Philippine Star)
Updated October 01, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Airlines (PAL) is expected to suffer a loss for its fiscal year ending March 31, 2010 mainly due to a slowdown in international traffic that has affected not only local airlines but the entire world aviation industry as well.
At the sidelines of yesterday’s stockholders’ meeting of PAL parent PAL Holdings Inc., PAL president and CEO Jaime Bautista said that while they posted earnings during the first quarter of the current fiscal year (April to June), the second quarter covering the July to September 2009 period is expected to be a loss while the third and fourth quarters of the 2009-2010 fiscal year may be break even. With PAL accounting for almost 100 percent of PAL Holdings’ revenues, the financial picture of the two companies are almost the same.
Last fiscal year, PAL registered a $301- million loss, largely due to increased fuel cost and the economic slowdown. “This year, we expect the loss to be much lower than last year’s,” Bautista said.
Asked to describe the third quarter (July to September 2009) situation, PAL’s chief executive noted that traffic is still down considering the effects of the worldwide recession.
But while PAL’s international passenger traffic is down, its domestic passenger volume has increased. “Domestic traffic has not been very much affected and this we attribute to the efforts of the Tourism department to improve tourist arrivals to the country,” he pointed out. The international business accounts for about 70 percent of total revenues for PAL.
He said that while revenues are expected to be down for the current fiscal year and the company is projected to realize a loss, passenger traffic for the combined international and domestic businesses is expected to slightly increase from last year’s 8.95 million passengers to around nine million.
Bautista, who is also the president of PAL Holdings, however pointed out that the projected nine million passengers flown for the current fiscal year is still lower than expectations.
So far, PAL has reduced capacity by seven percent following expectations that the market will be down by about 10 percent.
And because of the reduction in capacity, Bautista said there is a need to reduce manpower. PAL has asked its employees’ unions to avail of the early retirement, after which rationalization of manpower will follow. “We are looking at a seven to 10 percent cutback in manpower,” he revealed.
Bautista told stockholders that the past fiscal year covering April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2009 has been a difficult year for the airline industry in general, mainly due to increased fuel cost and falling passenger demand.
He noted that there was a 38-percent increase in average fuel prices, from $89 in 2008 to $123 in 2009, coupled with higher fuel consumption and the depreciation of the peso against the dollar.
As a result, the company posted a P12.26 billion loss for the last fiscal year, an increase from the P528.5 million loss in the previous year.
Bautista said they expect the market to remain depressed in the months ahead and the situation to be extremely challenging.
“We are now on the second quarter of an extremely difficult fiscal year which is showing no signs of recovery. And so far, the April to June results have not been encouraging,” he stressed.
In order to boost the company’s financial condition, Bautista revealed that they are tapping new traffic streams, reducing flight frequencies in low-performing areas, redeploying capacity, deferring non-essential capital expenditure, and trimming route network and capacity in response to the changing demand condition.
“Our company will be severely tested by the current downturn. But we are working to succeed and return to profitability,” he said.
Meanwhile, PAL Holdings said it fully supports the cost-cutting measures being pursued by PAL to survive the crisis that continues to plague airlines worldwide.
Bautista also revealed that they are eyeing new destinations either through charters or regular scheduled operations. PAL is also expecting to take delivery of its brand new and fuel-efficient Boeing 77-300ERs and is in the final stages of its $50-million program of refurbishing the current fleet of B744s.
Updated October 01, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Airlines (PAL) is expected to suffer a loss for its fiscal year ending March 31, 2010 mainly due to a slowdown in international traffic that has affected not only local airlines but the entire world aviation industry as well.
At the sidelines of yesterday’s stockholders’ meeting of PAL parent PAL Holdings Inc., PAL president and CEO Jaime Bautista said that while they posted earnings during the first quarter of the current fiscal year (April to June), the second quarter covering the July to September 2009 period is expected to be a loss while the third and fourth quarters of the 2009-2010 fiscal year may be break even. With PAL accounting for almost 100 percent of PAL Holdings’ revenues, the financial picture of the two companies are almost the same.
Last fiscal year, PAL registered a $301- million loss, largely due to increased fuel cost and the economic slowdown. “This year, we expect the loss to be much lower than last year’s,” Bautista said.
Asked to describe the third quarter (July to September 2009) situation, PAL’s chief executive noted that traffic is still down considering the effects of the worldwide recession.
But while PAL’s international passenger traffic is down, its domestic passenger volume has increased. “Domestic traffic has not been very much affected and this we attribute to the efforts of the Tourism department to improve tourist arrivals to the country,” he pointed out. The international business accounts for about 70 percent of total revenues for PAL.
He said that while revenues are expected to be down for the current fiscal year and the company is projected to realize a loss, passenger traffic for the combined international and domestic businesses is expected to slightly increase from last year’s 8.95 million passengers to around nine million.
Bautista, who is also the president of PAL Holdings, however pointed out that the projected nine million passengers flown for the current fiscal year is still lower than expectations.
So far, PAL has reduced capacity by seven percent following expectations that the market will be down by about 10 percent.
And because of the reduction in capacity, Bautista said there is a need to reduce manpower. PAL has asked its employees’ unions to avail of the early retirement, after which rationalization of manpower will follow. “We are looking at a seven to 10 percent cutback in manpower,” he revealed.
Bautista told stockholders that the past fiscal year covering April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2009 has been a difficult year for the airline industry in general, mainly due to increased fuel cost and falling passenger demand.
He noted that there was a 38-percent increase in average fuel prices, from $89 in 2008 to $123 in 2009, coupled with higher fuel consumption and the depreciation of the peso against the dollar.
As a result, the company posted a P12.26 billion loss for the last fiscal year, an increase from the P528.5 million loss in the previous year.
Bautista said they expect the market to remain depressed in the months ahead and the situation to be extremely challenging.
“We are now on the second quarter of an extremely difficult fiscal year which is showing no signs of recovery. And so far, the April to June results have not been encouraging,” he stressed.
In order to boost the company’s financial condition, Bautista revealed that they are tapping new traffic streams, reducing flight frequencies in low-performing areas, redeploying capacity, deferring non-essential capital expenditure, and trimming route network and capacity in response to the changing demand condition.
“Our company will be severely tested by the current downturn. But we are working to succeed and return to profitability,” he said.
Meanwhile, PAL Holdings said it fully supports the cost-cutting measures being pursued by PAL to survive the crisis that continues to plague airlines worldwide.
Bautista also revealed that they are eyeing new destinations either through charters or regular scheduled operations. PAL is also expecting to take delivery of its brand new and fuel-efficient Boeing 77-300ERs and is in the final stages of its $50-million program of refurbishing the current fleet of B744s.
PAL hit hard by slowdown in international traffic
By Mary Ann LL. Reyes (The Philippine Star)
Updated October 01, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Airlines (PAL) is expected to suffer a loss for its fiscal year ending March 31, 2010 mainly due to a slowdown in international traffic that has affected not only local airlines but the entire world aviation industry as well.
At the sidelines of yesterday’s stockholders’ meeting of PAL parent PAL Holdings Inc., PAL president and CEO Jaime Bautista said that while they posted earnings during the first quarter of the current fiscal year (April to June), the second quarter covering the July to September 2009 period is expected to be a loss while the third and fourth quarters of the 2009-2010 fiscal year may be break even. With PAL accounting for almost 100 percent of PAL Holdings’ revenues, the financial picture of the two companies are almost the same.
Last fiscal year, PAL registered a $301- million loss, largely due to increased fuel cost and the economic slowdown. “This year, we expect the loss to be much lower than last year’s,” Bautista said.
Asked to describe the third quarter (July to September 2009) situation, PAL’s chief executive noted that traffic is still down considering the effects of the worldwide recession.
But while PAL’s international passenger traffic is down, its domestic passenger volume has increased. “Domestic traffic has not been very much affected and this we attribute to the efforts of the Tourism department to improve tourist arrivals to the country,” he pointed out. The international business accounts for about 70 percent of total revenues for PAL.
He said that while revenues are expected to be down for the current fiscal year and the company is projected to realize a loss, passenger traffic for the combined international and domestic businesses is expected to slightly increase from last year’s 8.95 million passengers to around nine million.
Bautista, who is also the president of PAL Holdings, however pointed out that the projected nine million passengers flown for the current fiscal year is still lower than expectations.
So far, PAL has reduced capacity by seven percent following expectations that the market will be down by about 10 percent.
And because of the reduction in capacity, Bautista said there is a need to reduce manpower. PAL has asked its employees’ unions to avail of the early retirement, after which rationalization of manpower will follow. “We are looking at a seven to 10 percent cutback in manpower,” he revealed.
Bautista told stockholders that the past fiscal year covering April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2009 has been a difficult year for the airline industry in general, mainly due to increased fuel cost and falling passenger demand.
He noted that there was a 38-percent increase in average fuel prices, from $89 in 2008 to $123 in 2009, coupled with higher fuel consumption and the depreciation of the peso against the dollar.
As a result, the company posted a P12.26 billion loss for the last fiscal year, an increase from the P528.5 million loss in the previous year.
Bautista said they expect the market to remain depressed in the months ahead and the situation to be extremely challenging.
“We are now on the second quarter of an extremely difficult fiscal year which is showing no signs of recovery. And so far, the April to June results have not been encouraging,” he stressed.
In order to boost the company’s financial condition, Bautista revealed that they are tapping new traffic streams, reducing flight frequencies in low-performing areas, redeploying capacity, deferring non-essential capital expenditure, and trimming route network and capacity in response to the changing demand condition.
“Our company will be severely tested by the current downturn. But we are working to succeed and return to profitability,” he said.
Meanwhile, PAL Holdings said it fully supports the cost-cutting measures being pursued by PAL to survive the crisis that continues to plague airlines worldwide.
Bautista also revealed that they are eyeing new destinations either through charters or regular scheduled operations. PAL is also expecting to take delivery of its brand new and fuel-efficient Boeing 77-300ERs and is in the final stages of its $50-million program of refurbishing the current fleet of B744s.
Updated October 01, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Airlines (PAL) is expected to suffer a loss for its fiscal year ending March 31, 2010 mainly due to a slowdown in international traffic that has affected not only local airlines but the entire world aviation industry as well.
At the sidelines of yesterday’s stockholders’ meeting of PAL parent PAL Holdings Inc., PAL president and CEO Jaime Bautista said that while they posted earnings during the first quarter of the current fiscal year (April to June), the second quarter covering the July to September 2009 period is expected to be a loss while the third and fourth quarters of the 2009-2010 fiscal year may be break even. With PAL accounting for almost 100 percent of PAL Holdings’ revenues, the financial picture of the two companies are almost the same.
Last fiscal year, PAL registered a $301- million loss, largely due to increased fuel cost and the economic slowdown. “This year, we expect the loss to be much lower than last year’s,” Bautista said.
Asked to describe the third quarter (July to September 2009) situation, PAL’s chief executive noted that traffic is still down considering the effects of the worldwide recession.
But while PAL’s international passenger traffic is down, its domestic passenger volume has increased. “Domestic traffic has not been very much affected and this we attribute to the efforts of the Tourism department to improve tourist arrivals to the country,” he pointed out. The international business accounts for about 70 percent of total revenues for PAL.
He said that while revenues are expected to be down for the current fiscal year and the company is projected to realize a loss, passenger traffic for the combined international and domestic businesses is expected to slightly increase from last year’s 8.95 million passengers to around nine million.
Bautista, who is also the president of PAL Holdings, however pointed out that the projected nine million passengers flown for the current fiscal year is still lower than expectations.
So far, PAL has reduced capacity by seven percent following expectations that the market will be down by about 10 percent.
And because of the reduction in capacity, Bautista said there is a need to reduce manpower. PAL has asked its employees’ unions to avail of the early retirement, after which rationalization of manpower will follow. “We are looking at a seven to 10 percent cutback in manpower,” he revealed.
Bautista told stockholders that the past fiscal year covering April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2009 has been a difficult year for the airline industry in general, mainly due to increased fuel cost and falling passenger demand.
He noted that there was a 38-percent increase in average fuel prices, from $89 in 2008 to $123 in 2009, coupled with higher fuel consumption and the depreciation of the peso against the dollar.
As a result, the company posted a P12.26 billion loss for the last fiscal year, an increase from the P528.5 million loss in the previous year.
Bautista said they expect the market to remain depressed in the months ahead and the situation to be extremely challenging.
“We are now on the second quarter of an extremely difficult fiscal year which is showing no signs of recovery. And so far, the April to June results have not been encouraging,” he stressed.
In order to boost the company’s financial condition, Bautista revealed that they are tapping new traffic streams, reducing flight frequencies in low-performing areas, redeploying capacity, deferring non-essential capital expenditure, and trimming route network and capacity in response to the changing demand condition.
“Our company will be severely tested by the current downturn. But we are working to succeed and return to profitability,” he said.
Meanwhile, PAL Holdings said it fully supports the cost-cutting measures being pursued by PAL to survive the crisis that continues to plague airlines worldwide.
Bautista also revealed that they are eyeing new destinations either through charters or regular scheduled operations. PAL is also expecting to take delivery of its brand new and fuel-efficient Boeing 77-300ERs and is in the final stages of its $50-million program of refurbishing the current fleet of B744s.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
PAL must downsize to be competitive
Philippine Star
DEMAND AND SUPPLY
By Boo Chanco
September 25, 2009
At last, Philippine Airlines is recognizing the realities of the times by preparing to downsize its staff. The labor union is up in arms and is threatening legal action but even the Supreme Court cannot overturn the new rules of airline finances.The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is predicting an $11 billion loss for world airlines in 2009 and most of these losses would be borne by so called legacy airlines like Philippine Airlines.
It happened to the American car industry just a few months ago. General Motors and Chrysler had to file for bankruptcy and get government financial assistance because their labor costs are no longer competitive to the Japanese brands who are also manufacturing cars in union-free operations in some Southern states.
In the case of the car companies, the labor union had to become extremely reasonable. GM’s Bob Lutz called Ron Gettlefinger, the UAW president, a labor statesman. Indeed, the UAW agreed to a lot of demands that meant cuts on such legacy costs as lifetime health care and pensions for retired workers, massive lay offs and changes in shop rules to bring down labor costs to competitive levels with Toyota, Honda and Hyundai, among other foreign brands. Being intransigent was not an option because that would mean closure and total job losses.
In the airline industry, the same thing is starting to happen. Recently, British Airlines got into trouble with its unions because of plans to trim operations and staff in line with a drastically reduced demand for airline passenger seats. The unions are acting tough but it is likely that they will have to give in sooner than later.
In addition to tough economic times, British Airlines also faced fierce competition. The budget airlines such as Ryan Air, Easy Jet and Virgin are attracting the more budget conscious passengers these days. And let us not forget the pummeling the airline finances got from soaring fuel prices.
In Asia, the situation is the same. The mighty Singapore Airlines was forced to mothball a considerable number of planes in its fleet for lack of passengers. It is also cutting down on unprofitable routes and all these steps mean they are laying-off staff too. Malaysian Airways, Thai International and even Cathay Pacific are all in the same predicament.
Japan Airlines, the flag carrier of the country with the world’s second biggest economy is in danger of going under. JAL is desperately negotiating with American and other foreign airlines for assistance in exchange for equity stake and a large say in management. It is thus not surprising that Philippine Airlines, a legacy airline, is now saying they have serious financial problems that need drastic solutions.
“The bottom line of this crisis ... is larger than the impact of 9/11,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director general and CEO. Industry losses for 2001-2002 were $24.3 billion. IATA attributed the worse ever loss to declining demand, rising fuel prices and exceptionally weak yields. Passenger traffic is expected to decline by four percent and cargo by 14 percent for 2009. Yields are expected to fall 12 percent for passenger and 15 percent for cargo.
Though “the global economic storm may be abating,” Bisignani warned that airlines “have not found safe harbor” and that “the crisis continues.” IATA predicted that the industry would post a loss of $3.8 billion in 2010. Industry revenues in 2009 are expected to be $80 billion less than 2008.
Bisignani predicted that “revenues are not likely to return to 2008 levels until 2012 at the earliest.” Asia-Pacific carriers will likely post a loss of $3.6 billion, roughly in line with the previous forecast of $3.3 billion.
Here at home, Philippine Airlines has finally snapped out of its state of denial. Among other things, they are now admitting their old business model is no longer viable. They have too much staff at 8,000 compared with Cebu Pacific at just 2,000. And to top it all, Cebu Pacific is now flying more domestic passengers than Philippine Airlines and presumably presents a better bottom line as well.
For PAL to be more competitive, it has to adopt the same business model of Cebu Pacific. It must have less full time staff. They need younger staff that is paid less and more fuel efficient planes. They have to get rid of other legacy costs that make the airline less nimble. PAL has acquired newer and more fuel efficient planes but is hamstrung to act decisively on the staffing problem.
The other negative of PAL these days is the threat of a labor strike. I got stranded in Los Angeles the last time they had a strike. Now that there is a threat of a strike, I am having second thoughts buying a PAL ticket for use two or three months forward. I don’t want the problems of being stranded.
Frankly, if I had my rathers, I would rather fly PAL than Cebu Pacific because PAL has better seats. For short flights, I can suffer the seats at Cebu Pacific. But for a flight of over two hours, I would choose PAL. Many others, it seems, don’t mind some discomfort in exchange for the cheap fares of Cebu Pacific.
The way it looks to me, the plan of PAL to rationalize its staffing is not a legal issue that the courts can decide. It is very much an economic issue. No court can force Lucio Tan to bleed still more money in PAL if he decides that he has lost enough in the airline through the years. There are easier ways of making money for the taipan. He doesn’t need the headaches of another labor tussle like the last one.
It is entirely possible that the labor union can win its case before the courts as it did the last time. But their victory will be pyrrhic if the airline goes out of business anyway. PAL’s labor union must study what the UAW did in the case of the American car companies and help management save PAL from its current financial troubles. They have to take the long view… the big picture. Or they will lose their airline and their jobs and there is nothing the Supreme Court can do about it.
DEMAND AND SUPPLY
By Boo Chanco
September 25, 2009
At last, Philippine Airlines is recognizing the realities of the times by preparing to downsize its staff. The labor union is up in arms and is threatening legal action but even the Supreme Court cannot overturn the new rules of airline finances.The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is predicting an $11 billion loss for world airlines in 2009 and most of these losses would be borne by so called legacy airlines like Philippine Airlines.
It happened to the American car industry just a few months ago. General Motors and Chrysler had to file for bankruptcy and get government financial assistance because their labor costs are no longer competitive to the Japanese brands who are also manufacturing cars in union-free operations in some Southern states.
In the case of the car companies, the labor union had to become extremely reasonable. GM’s Bob Lutz called Ron Gettlefinger, the UAW president, a labor statesman. Indeed, the UAW agreed to a lot of demands that meant cuts on such legacy costs as lifetime health care and pensions for retired workers, massive lay offs and changes in shop rules to bring down labor costs to competitive levels with Toyota, Honda and Hyundai, among other foreign brands. Being intransigent was not an option because that would mean closure and total job losses.
In the airline industry, the same thing is starting to happen. Recently, British Airlines got into trouble with its unions because of plans to trim operations and staff in line with a drastically reduced demand for airline passenger seats. The unions are acting tough but it is likely that they will have to give in sooner than later.
In addition to tough economic times, British Airlines also faced fierce competition. The budget airlines such as Ryan Air, Easy Jet and Virgin are attracting the more budget conscious passengers these days. And let us not forget the pummeling the airline finances got from soaring fuel prices.
In Asia, the situation is the same. The mighty Singapore Airlines was forced to mothball a considerable number of planes in its fleet for lack of passengers. It is also cutting down on unprofitable routes and all these steps mean they are laying-off staff too. Malaysian Airways, Thai International and even Cathay Pacific are all in the same predicament.
Japan Airlines, the flag carrier of the country with the world’s second biggest economy is in danger of going under. JAL is desperately negotiating with American and other foreign airlines for assistance in exchange for equity stake and a large say in management. It is thus not surprising that Philippine Airlines, a legacy airline, is now saying they have serious financial problems that need drastic solutions.
“The bottom line of this crisis ... is larger than the impact of 9/11,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director general and CEO. Industry losses for 2001-2002 were $24.3 billion. IATA attributed the worse ever loss to declining demand, rising fuel prices and exceptionally weak yields. Passenger traffic is expected to decline by four percent and cargo by 14 percent for 2009. Yields are expected to fall 12 percent for passenger and 15 percent for cargo.
Though “the global economic storm may be abating,” Bisignani warned that airlines “have not found safe harbor” and that “the crisis continues.” IATA predicted that the industry would post a loss of $3.8 billion in 2010. Industry revenues in 2009 are expected to be $80 billion less than 2008.
Bisignani predicted that “revenues are not likely to return to 2008 levels until 2012 at the earliest.” Asia-Pacific carriers will likely post a loss of $3.6 billion, roughly in line with the previous forecast of $3.3 billion.
Here at home, Philippine Airlines has finally snapped out of its state of denial. Among other things, they are now admitting their old business model is no longer viable. They have too much staff at 8,000 compared with Cebu Pacific at just 2,000. And to top it all, Cebu Pacific is now flying more domestic passengers than Philippine Airlines and presumably presents a better bottom line as well.
For PAL to be more competitive, it has to adopt the same business model of Cebu Pacific. It must have less full time staff. They need younger staff that is paid less and more fuel efficient planes. They have to get rid of other legacy costs that make the airline less nimble. PAL has acquired newer and more fuel efficient planes but is hamstrung to act decisively on the staffing problem.
The other negative of PAL these days is the threat of a labor strike. I got stranded in Los Angeles the last time they had a strike. Now that there is a threat of a strike, I am having second thoughts buying a PAL ticket for use two or three months forward. I don’t want the problems of being stranded.
Frankly, if I had my rathers, I would rather fly PAL than Cebu Pacific because PAL has better seats. For short flights, I can suffer the seats at Cebu Pacific. But for a flight of over two hours, I would choose PAL. Many others, it seems, don’t mind some discomfort in exchange for the cheap fares of Cebu Pacific.
The way it looks to me, the plan of PAL to rationalize its staffing is not a legal issue that the courts can decide. It is very much an economic issue. No court can force Lucio Tan to bleed still more money in PAL if he decides that he has lost enough in the airline through the years. There are easier ways of making money for the taipan. He doesn’t need the headaches of another labor tussle like the last one.
It is entirely possible that the labor union can win its case before the courts as it did the last time. But their victory will be pyrrhic if the airline goes out of business anyway. PAL’s labor union must study what the UAW did in the case of the American car companies and help management save PAL from its current financial troubles. They have to take the long view… the big picture. Or they will lose their airline and their jobs and there is nothing the Supreme Court can do about it.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
PAL employees to ask Labor dep’t to stop layoffs
Business World
September 22, 2009
Rank-and-file Philippine Airlines (PAL) employees will seek the Labor department’s help to stop the Lucio C. Tan-led company’s plan to outsource non-core services, which they claim could leave as much as 4,000 jobless.
The PAL Employees’ Association (PALEA) will file a request for preventive mediation at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) today following a deadlock in discussions regarding moves to spin-off or outsource services of 10 PAL departments.
"We will formally forward the issue to the labor department to keep PAL from pushing through with its plan next month," PALEA president Edgardo C. Oredina said in an interview.
In a notice sent to PALEA on Sept. 9, PAL president Jaime J. Bautista told union officials that certain services needed to be outsourced or spun off "to prevent the company from incurring further losses and to preserve its remaining assets."
The services to be initially outsourced by Nov. 15 include catering, passenger handling, ramp handling, and cargo-handling operations, the notice obtained said.
PAL is also studying the possibility of outsourcing other functions like information technology, revenue accounting, reservations and call centers, as well as medical and other human resources operations.
"The initial wave will cover 80% of our 4,000 members. [If PAL pushes through with the second plan], it will wipe us all out," Mr. Oredina said.
A PAL official who requested anonymity meanwhile described the labor union’s move as "over-reacting" and "preempting the moves of the management."
"There is already an ongoing offer for all our employees to avail themselves of an early retirement package which will be completed by end of this month to achieve the reduction in the work force, to make PAL a lean and mean company," he said.
The official said there were no concrete plans beyond that, and that management would only decide on its next course of action if it fails to achieve the "ideal number of work force."
"PALEA is moving ahead of the management. It is unlikely that we will outsource all those departments because most of them have technical requirements that need experience and expertise. How can PAL work if we lose all of them?" he asked.
PAL has more than 8,000 employees, half of whom belong to the rank-and-file union.
But Mr. Oredina said PAL has yet to offer early retirement packages.
"As early as 2000, PAL has been wanting to retain only its core operations and employees, which are only the pilots and the flight attendants," Mr. Oredina said.
PAL was in a similar situation more than a decade ago at the height of the Asian financial crisis. Suffering from financial woes, PAL was forced to cut flights and retrench thousands of employees, which was subsequently declared illegal by the Supreme Court.
In 1998, PAL was forced go into receivership in the aftermath of the Asian crisis. It returned to profit in 2000 and was declared in financial health two years ago.
For the fiscal year ending March, PAL lost $301.4 million as a result of higher expenses brought about by the cost of operating more flights and last year’s record-high fuel prices.
Revenues went up slightly to $1.6 billion but were not enough to cover operating expenses of $1.9 billion, up from $1.539 billion the previous year. Total liabilities also went up by almost a fifth to $869 million.
Burdened with debt and ballooning costs, the company is now looking at various options, including selling aircraft, reducing flights, and letting go of employees. It is also on lookout for potential white knights who can ease its financial woes.
September 22, 2009
Rank-and-file Philippine Airlines (PAL) employees will seek the Labor department’s help to stop the Lucio C. Tan-led company’s plan to outsource non-core services, which they claim could leave as much as 4,000 jobless.
The PAL Employees’ Association (PALEA) will file a request for preventive mediation at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) today following a deadlock in discussions regarding moves to spin-off or outsource services of 10 PAL departments.
"We will formally forward the issue to the labor department to keep PAL from pushing through with its plan next month," PALEA president Edgardo C. Oredina said in an interview.
In a notice sent to PALEA on Sept. 9, PAL president Jaime J. Bautista told union officials that certain services needed to be outsourced or spun off "to prevent the company from incurring further losses and to preserve its remaining assets."
The services to be initially outsourced by Nov. 15 include catering, passenger handling, ramp handling, and cargo-handling operations, the notice obtained said.
PAL is also studying the possibility of outsourcing other functions like information technology, revenue accounting, reservations and call centers, as well as medical and other human resources operations.
"The initial wave will cover 80% of our 4,000 members. [If PAL pushes through with the second plan], it will wipe us all out," Mr. Oredina said.
A PAL official who requested anonymity meanwhile described the labor union’s move as "over-reacting" and "preempting the moves of the management."
"There is already an ongoing offer for all our employees to avail themselves of an early retirement package which will be completed by end of this month to achieve the reduction in the work force, to make PAL a lean and mean company," he said.
The official said there were no concrete plans beyond that, and that management would only decide on its next course of action if it fails to achieve the "ideal number of work force."
"PALEA is moving ahead of the management. It is unlikely that we will outsource all those departments because most of them have technical requirements that need experience and expertise. How can PAL work if we lose all of them?" he asked.
PAL has more than 8,000 employees, half of whom belong to the rank-and-file union.
But Mr. Oredina said PAL has yet to offer early retirement packages.
"As early as 2000, PAL has been wanting to retain only its core operations and employees, which are only the pilots and the flight attendants," Mr. Oredina said.
PAL was in a similar situation more than a decade ago at the height of the Asian financial crisis. Suffering from financial woes, PAL was forced to cut flights and retrench thousands of employees, which was subsequently declared illegal by the Supreme Court.
In 1998, PAL was forced go into receivership in the aftermath of the Asian crisis. It returned to profit in 2000 and was declared in financial health two years ago.
For the fiscal year ending March, PAL lost $301.4 million as a result of higher expenses brought about by the cost of operating more flights and last year’s record-high fuel prices.
Revenues went up slightly to $1.6 billion but were not enough to cover operating expenses of $1.9 billion, up from $1.539 billion the previous year. Total liabilities also went up by almost a fifth to $869 million.
Burdened with debt and ballooning costs, the company is now looking at various options, including selling aircraft, reducing flights, and letting go of employees. It is also on lookout for potential white knights who can ease its financial woes.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
PAL Gives Pink Slip to 2,000 Workers
Philippine Star
September 19, 2009
Philippine Airlines has officially informed its employees that the management's retrenchment program will be implemented beginning November 15 affecting an estimated 2,000 workers coming from non-core services such as passenger handling, airline’s catering, ramp handling, and cargo handling operations. The numbers is equivalent to almost half the affected total workforce.
"We have no choice but to trim costs. We were really affected with the long haul, instead of the medium haul flights,” says Jaime Bautista, PAL CEO citing weak travel demands from areas where it matters most, the transpacific flight to where it derived majority of its profit to support the growing workforce. But with transpacific traffic down 7% and the same fixed cost from workers, something has to to be done in order to survive.
"We have decided to outsource the non-core business and transfer several operations to third parties to reduce costs and improve cash flow. Philippine Airlines employs 8,052 employees as of March 2009, almost half of them are ground employees. So we are currently reviewing its entire organizational set-up to make the workforce lean and mean" adds Bautista.
Last year the company earned P16 billion on gross sales for the same quarter period while it only earned P13 billion this year, a massive drop of P3 billion, which is a reflection on the current decline on its trans-pacific operations which comprises 32.6% in 2008 accounting to 47% decrease of its yields where international passenger traffic registered -1.5% slip as compared to a year earlier. The decline in passenger revenues was primarily brought about by lower net yield per Revenue Passenger Kilometer (RPK) as the airline scrambles to fill its seats.
PAL workers however are resisting the retrenchment plans because they believed that its main aim is to bust the union by outsourcing those work to companies that are also owned by Tan such as MacroAsia Corp., where workers are non-unionized, receive cheaper wages, less benefits, and without security of tenure.
“The outsourcing and spin-off is unacceptable to us. We are going to present [options] to the PAL management if it is really in a dire financial need” explained Edgardo C. Oredina, PAL Employees Association (Palea) president.
Mr. Oredina said PALEA members were open to pay cuts through job rotations to reduce working hours, but removing them altogether to be replaced by contractual isn't right as a justification to cut down on costs.
In 1998, PAL was leading to bankruptcy and forced go into receivership in the aftermath of the 1997 Asian Financial crisis. It returned to profit in 2000 and was out of receivership in 1997.
In 2008, the airline lost $301.4 million as a result of higher expenses brought about by last year’s record-high fuel prices and imprudent fuel-hedge deals which resulted to the sacking of its Chief Finance Officer. While revenues went up slightly to $1.6 billion it were not enough to cover operating expenses of $1.9 billion, up from $1.539 billion the previous year. Total liabilities also went up by almost a fifth to $869 million.
Burdened with ballooning operating costs, the airline is now looking at various strategies to return back to profitability, including selling assets, reducing flight frequencies, and letting go of employees through rationalization.
September 19, 2009
Philippine Airlines has officially informed its employees that the management's retrenchment program will be implemented beginning November 15 affecting an estimated 2,000 workers coming from non-core services such as passenger handling, airline’s catering, ramp handling, and cargo handling operations. The numbers is equivalent to almost half the affected total workforce.
"We have no choice but to trim costs. We were really affected with the long haul, instead of the medium haul flights,” says Jaime Bautista, PAL CEO citing weak travel demands from areas where it matters most, the transpacific flight to where it derived majority of its profit to support the growing workforce. But with transpacific traffic down 7% and the same fixed cost from workers, something has to to be done in order to survive.
"We have decided to outsource the non-core business and transfer several operations to third parties to reduce costs and improve cash flow. Philippine Airlines employs 8,052 employees as of March 2009, almost half of them are ground employees. So we are currently reviewing its entire organizational set-up to make the workforce lean and mean" adds Bautista.
Last year the company earned P16 billion on gross sales for the same quarter period while it only earned P13 billion this year, a massive drop of P3 billion, which is a reflection on the current decline on its trans-pacific operations which comprises 32.6% in 2008 accounting to 47% decrease of its yields where international passenger traffic registered -1.5% slip as compared to a year earlier. The decline in passenger revenues was primarily brought about by lower net yield per Revenue Passenger Kilometer (RPK) as the airline scrambles to fill its seats.
PAL workers however are resisting the retrenchment plans because they believed that its main aim is to bust the union by outsourcing those work to companies that are also owned by Tan such as MacroAsia Corp., where workers are non-unionized, receive cheaper wages, less benefits, and without security of tenure.
“The outsourcing and spin-off is unacceptable to us. We are going to present [options] to the PAL management if it is really in a dire financial need” explained Edgardo C. Oredina, PAL Employees Association (Palea) president.
Mr. Oredina said PALEA members were open to pay cuts through job rotations to reduce working hours, but removing them altogether to be replaced by contractual isn't right as a justification to cut down on costs.
In 1998, PAL was leading to bankruptcy and forced go into receivership in the aftermath of the 1997 Asian Financial crisis. It returned to profit in 2000 and was out of receivership in 1997.
In 2008, the airline lost $301.4 million as a result of higher expenses brought about by last year’s record-high fuel prices and imprudent fuel-hedge deals which resulted to the sacking of its Chief Finance Officer. While revenues went up slightly to $1.6 billion it were not enough to cover operating expenses of $1.9 billion, up from $1.539 billion the previous year. Total liabilities also went up by almost a fifth to $869 million.
Burdened with ballooning operating costs, the airline is now looking at various strategies to return back to profitability, including selling assets, reducing flight frequencies, and letting go of employees through rationalization.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
PAL employees to ask Labor dep’t to stop layoffs
Business world
September 1, 2009
Rank-and-file Philippine Airlines (PAL) employees will seek the Labor department’s help to stop the Lucio C. Tan-led company’s plan to outsource non-core services, which they claim could leave as much as 4,000 jobless.
The PAL Employees’ Association (PALEA) will file a request for preventive mediation at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) today following a deadlock in discussions regarding moves to spin-off or outsource services of 10 PAL departments.
"We will formally forward the issue to the labor department to keep PAL from pushing through with its plan next month," PALEA president Edgardo C. Oredina said in an interview.
In a notice sent to PALEA on Sept. 9, PAL president Jaime J. Bautista told union officials that certain services needed to be outsourced or spun off "to prevent the company from incurring further losses and to preserve its remaining assets."
The services to be initially outsourced by Nov. 15 include catering, passenger handling, ramp handling, and cargo-handling operations, the notice obtained said.
PAL is also studying the possibility of outsourcing other functions like information technology, revenue accounting, reservations and call centers, as well as medical and other human resources operations.
"The initial wave will cover 80% of our 4,000 members. [If PAL pushes through with the second plan], it will wipe us all out," Mr. Oredina said.
A PAL official who requested anonymity meanwhile described the labor union’s move as "over-reacting" and "preempting the moves of the management."
"There is already an ongoing offer for all our employees to avail themselves of an early retirement package which will be completed by end of this month to achieve the reduction in the work force, to make PAL a lean and mean company," he said.
The official said there were no concrete plans beyond that, and that management would only decide on its next course of action if it fails to achieve the "ideal number of work force."
"PALEA is moving ahead of the management. It is unlikely that we will outsource all those departments because most of them have technical requirements that need experience and expertise. How can PAL work if we lose all of them?" he asked.
PAL has more than 8,000 employees, half of whom belong to the rank-and-file union.
But Mr. Oredina said PAL has yet to offer early retirement packages.
"As early as 2000, PAL has been wanting to retain only its core operations and employees, which are only the pilots and the flight attendants," Mr. Oredina said.
PAL was in a similar situation more than a decade ago at the height of the Asian financial crisis. Suffering from financial woes, PAL was forced to cut flights and retrench thousands of employees, which was subsequently declared illegal by the Supreme Court.
In 1998, PAL was forced go into receivership in the aftermath of the Asian crisis. It returned to profit in 2000 and was declared in financial health two years ago.
For the fiscal year ending March, PAL lost $301.4 million as a result of higher expenses brought about by the cost of operating more flights and last year’s record-high fuel prices.
Revenues went up slightly to $1.6 billion but were not enough to cover operating expenses of $1.9 billion, up from $1.539 billion the previous year. Total liabilities also went up by almost a fifth to $869 million.
Burdened with debt and ballooning costs, the company is now looking at various options, including selling aircraft, reducing flights, and letting go of employees. It is also on lookout for potential white knights who can ease its financial woes.
September 1, 2009
Rank-and-file Philippine Airlines (PAL) employees will seek the Labor department’s help to stop the Lucio C. Tan-led company’s plan to outsource non-core services, which they claim could leave as much as 4,000 jobless.
The PAL Employees’ Association (PALEA) will file a request for preventive mediation at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) today following a deadlock in discussions regarding moves to spin-off or outsource services of 10 PAL departments.
"We will formally forward the issue to the labor department to keep PAL from pushing through with its plan next month," PALEA president Edgardo C. Oredina said in an interview.
In a notice sent to PALEA on Sept. 9, PAL president Jaime J. Bautista told union officials that certain services needed to be outsourced or spun off "to prevent the company from incurring further losses and to preserve its remaining assets."
The services to be initially outsourced by Nov. 15 include catering, passenger handling, ramp handling, and cargo-handling operations, the notice obtained said.
PAL is also studying the possibility of outsourcing other functions like information technology, revenue accounting, reservations and call centers, as well as medical and other human resources operations.
"The initial wave will cover 80% of our 4,000 members. [If PAL pushes through with the second plan], it will wipe us all out," Mr. Oredina said.
A PAL official who requested anonymity meanwhile described the labor union’s move as "over-reacting" and "preempting the moves of the management."
"There is already an ongoing offer for all our employees to avail themselves of an early retirement package which will be completed by end of this month to achieve the reduction in the work force, to make PAL a lean and mean company," he said.
The official said there were no concrete plans beyond that, and that management would only decide on its next course of action if it fails to achieve the "ideal number of work force."
"PALEA is moving ahead of the management. It is unlikely that we will outsource all those departments because most of them have technical requirements that need experience and expertise. How can PAL work if we lose all of them?" he asked.
PAL has more than 8,000 employees, half of whom belong to the rank-and-file union.
But Mr. Oredina said PAL has yet to offer early retirement packages.
"As early as 2000, PAL has been wanting to retain only its core operations and employees, which are only the pilots and the flight attendants," Mr. Oredina said.
PAL was in a similar situation more than a decade ago at the height of the Asian financial crisis. Suffering from financial woes, PAL was forced to cut flights and retrench thousands of employees, which was subsequently declared illegal by the Supreme Court.
In 1998, PAL was forced go into receivership in the aftermath of the Asian crisis. It returned to profit in 2000 and was declared in financial health two years ago.
For the fiscal year ending March, PAL lost $301.4 million as a result of higher expenses brought about by the cost of operating more flights and last year’s record-high fuel prices.
Revenues went up slightly to $1.6 billion but were not enough to cover operating expenses of $1.9 billion, up from $1.539 billion the previous year. Total liabilities also went up by almost a fifth to $869 million.
Burdened with debt and ballooning costs, the company is now looking at various options, including selling aircraft, reducing flights, and letting go of employees. It is also on lookout for potential white knights who can ease its financial woes.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
PAL beefs up domestic operations despite job cut
The Manila Times
August 29, 2009
By Darwin G. Amojelar
DESPITE the company’s plan to cut its workforce, Philippine Airlines (PAL) on Friday announced it will beef up its domestic operations with new routes and destinations.
In a statement, the Lucio Tan-owned company said it will introduce a new Cebu-Davao and Davao-Cebu service using the wide-body Airbus A330 starting September 1.
Its budget airline, PAL Express will add another daily Cebu-Iloilo-Cebu flight using the 76-seater Q400 turboprop aircraft.
Surigao and Naga are also being added to the PAL Express network with daily flights to Surigao and twice a day service to Naga.
Earlier, Jaime Bautista, PAL president and chief operating officer, said it would cut its workforce and flight capacity abroad to cope withJustify Full the global economic slowdown.
“We are currently reviewing our entire organizational set-up,” Bautista said, adding that the crisis has changed the face of the industry which is among the sectors hardest hit by the global crisis.
“We don’t know yet how many will be affected. For now, we don’t have a target. I talked to the union about the plan yesterday. In a few weeks, we will know how many will be affected,” he added.
At end-March, PAL had a workforce of 8,052. Of the total, 472 are pilots and 1,593 are cabin crew.
Bautista said the airline’s cost-cutting measures will not infringe on its safety compliance and standards.
PAL will reduce flight capacity to the US, Canada, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong, he said.
About 7 percent of the airline’s total capacity would be reduced effective this month until March 2010.
At end-March, PAL’s route network covered 29 points in the Philippines and 31 international destinations.
The company reported a net income of $35.5 million from April to June, down by $9.6 million over the same period last year.
Revenues dropped by 12 percent to $394 million compared with $446.9 million for the same period in 2008.
PAL blamed the lower revenues on the 25-percent decrease in passenger revenues of $95 million as passenger traffic and yields continued to decline.
For its fiscal year ending March, PAL posted a net loss of $301 million from a net profit of $30.6 million in the fiscal year ending March 2008.
The company’s total expenses for the first quarter amounted to $358.5 million, 11 percent better than the previous year’s $401.8 million. Fuel comprised 44 percent of its operating expenses.
August 29, 2009
By Darwin G. Amojelar
DESPITE the company’s plan to cut its workforce, Philippine Airlines (PAL) on Friday announced it will beef up its domestic operations with new routes and destinations.
In a statement, the Lucio Tan-owned company said it will introduce a new Cebu-Davao and Davao-Cebu service using the wide-body Airbus A330 starting September 1.
Its budget airline, PAL Express will add another daily Cebu-Iloilo-Cebu flight using the 76-seater Q400 turboprop aircraft.
Surigao and Naga are also being added to the PAL Express network with daily flights to Surigao and twice a day service to Naga.
Earlier, Jaime Bautista, PAL president and chief operating officer, said it would cut its workforce and flight capacity abroad to cope withJustify Full the global economic slowdown.
“We are currently reviewing our entire organizational set-up,” Bautista said, adding that the crisis has changed the face of the industry which is among the sectors hardest hit by the global crisis.
“We don’t know yet how many will be affected. For now, we don’t have a target. I talked to the union about the plan yesterday. In a few weeks, we will know how many will be affected,” he added.
At end-March, PAL had a workforce of 8,052. Of the total, 472 are pilots and 1,593 are cabin crew.
Bautista said the airline’s cost-cutting measures will not infringe on its safety compliance and standards.
PAL will reduce flight capacity to the US, Canada, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong, he said.
About 7 percent of the airline’s total capacity would be reduced effective this month until March 2010.
At end-March, PAL’s route network covered 29 points in the Philippines and 31 international destinations.
The company reported a net income of $35.5 million from April to June, down by $9.6 million over the same period last year.
Revenues dropped by 12 percent to $394 million compared with $446.9 million for the same period in 2008.
PAL blamed the lower revenues on the 25-percent decrease in passenger revenues of $95 million as passenger traffic and yields continued to decline.
For its fiscal year ending March, PAL posted a net loss of $301 million from a net profit of $30.6 million in the fiscal year ending March 2008.
The company’s total expenses for the first quarter amounted to $358.5 million, 11 percent better than the previous year’s $401.8 million. Fuel comprised 44 percent of its operating expenses.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
PAL looking to trim staff, operations
Business World
August 28, 2009
PHILIPPINE AIRLINES, Inc. (PAL), which over a decade ago was forced into receivership by the Asian crisis, is once again facing a fight for survival, its president yesterday said.
Burdened with debt and ballooning costs, the company is now looking at various options, including selling aircraft, reducing flights, and letting go of employees. It is also on lookout for potential white knights who can ease its financial woes, PAL President and CEO Jaime J. Bautista said.
"We will take decisive steps like rationalizing [our] workforce, realigning operations to match demand and other cost-cutting measures to survive the crisis currently plaguing airlines worldwide," he said.
In a statement, PAL quoted Mr. Bautista as saying, "Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures."
PAL lost $301.4 million for its fiscal year ending March 2009 as a result of higher expenses brought about by the cost of operating more flights and last year’s record-high fuel prices. Fuel accounts for 44% of the airline’s expenses.
The carrier earned $30.6 million a year earlier.
Revenues went up slightly to P1.6 billion but were not enough to cover operating expenses of $1.9 billion, up from $1.539 billion the previous year. Total liabilities also went up by almost a fifth to $869 million, while total assets decreased by $60.6 million to $1.971 billion.
Mr. Bautista told BusinessWorld the company was considering offering early retirement packages, executive pay cuts, and giving workers "breaks for a few days."
"There is still no definite program how to address this. Normally, when you make decisions to reduce manpower, you look at other possible measures first. [Reducing our employees] is the last recourse," he said.
The airline currently has more than 8,000 employees.
Mr. Bautista said PAL had adopted various measures to cut operating expenses, including the reduction of international flights.
Flights to Los Angeles, for instance, are now down to seven per week from nine, while those for San Francisco have been cut to seven from eight per week.
Next month, PAL will reduce its Vancouver flights to just five per week from daily.
While the number of domestic passengers rose by 17% during the first quarter, the number of international passengers slipped by 8%, mostly because of slowing demand from the US.
The airline will also sell a Boeing 737 to raise some $8-10 million. While it will push through with the delivery of Boeing 777-300ERs this year, Mr. Bautista said plane purchases were on hold.
PAL shareholders yesterday approved a quasi-reorganization plan, reducing the par value of the firm’s shares to P0.20 from P0.80 per share. It will also increase its authorized capital stock to P20 billion from P16 billion, divided into 100 billion shares at P0.20 per share.
"The airline reduced its par value to attract investors to invest in PAL. Hopefully the present shareholders will put in equity," Mr. Bautista said.
Outsiders may be invited to buy new shares, he said.
Tobacco tycoon Lucio Tan owns 86% of PAL.
"There is still no definite figure as to how much [in new shares will be] sold. We are also closely working with our financial advisers to tap the debt market but credit is quite tight right now. There is no definite plan how much we might borrow," he said.
PAL in 1998 was forced to file for receivership, citing the impact of a the Asian financial crisis. It returned to profit in 2000 and was declared in financial health two years ago.
"Hopefully the 1998 incident will not happen again but right now the company is working on a rationalizing program. We have tightened our belt in PAL [because] we really need to [cut costs]. This is another challenging year and hopefully the market rebounds and we will able to generate the cash," Mr. Bautista said. — K. J. R. Liu with JF
August 28, 2009
PHILIPPINE AIRLINES, Inc. (PAL), which over a decade ago was forced into receivership by the Asian crisis, is once again facing a fight for survival, its president yesterday said.
Burdened with debt and ballooning costs, the company is now looking at various options, including selling aircraft, reducing flights, and letting go of employees. It is also on lookout for potential white knights who can ease its financial woes, PAL President and CEO Jaime J. Bautista said.
"We will take decisive steps like rationalizing [our] workforce, realigning operations to match demand and other cost-cutting measures to survive the crisis currently plaguing airlines worldwide," he said.
In a statement, PAL quoted Mr. Bautista as saying, "Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures."
PAL lost $301.4 million for its fiscal year ending March 2009 as a result of higher expenses brought about by the cost of operating more flights and last year’s record-high fuel prices. Fuel accounts for 44% of the airline’s expenses.
The carrier earned $30.6 million a year earlier.
Revenues went up slightly to P1.6 billion but were not enough to cover operating expenses of $1.9 billion, up from $1.539 billion the previous year. Total liabilities also went up by almost a fifth to $869 million, while total assets decreased by $60.6 million to $1.971 billion.
Mr. Bautista told BusinessWorld the company was considering offering early retirement packages, executive pay cuts, and giving workers "breaks for a few days."
"There is still no definite program how to address this. Normally, when you make decisions to reduce manpower, you look at other possible measures first. [Reducing our employees] is the last recourse," he said.
The airline currently has more than 8,000 employees.
Mr. Bautista said PAL had adopted various measures to cut operating expenses, including the reduction of international flights.
Flights to Los Angeles, for instance, are now down to seven per week from nine, while those for San Francisco have been cut to seven from eight per week.
Next month, PAL will reduce its Vancouver flights to just five per week from daily.
While the number of domestic passengers rose by 17% during the first quarter, the number of international passengers slipped by 8%, mostly because of slowing demand from the US.
The airline will also sell a Boeing 737 to raise some $8-10 million. While it will push through with the delivery of Boeing 777-300ERs this year, Mr. Bautista said plane purchases were on hold.
PAL shareholders yesterday approved a quasi-reorganization plan, reducing the par value of the firm’s shares to P0.20 from P0.80 per share. It will also increase its authorized capital stock to P20 billion from P16 billion, divided into 100 billion shares at P0.20 per share.
"The airline reduced its par value to attract investors to invest in PAL. Hopefully the present shareholders will put in equity," Mr. Bautista said.
Outsiders may be invited to buy new shares, he said.
Tobacco tycoon Lucio Tan owns 86% of PAL.
"There is still no definite figure as to how much [in new shares will be] sold. We are also closely working with our financial advisers to tap the debt market but credit is quite tight right now. There is no definite plan how much we might borrow," he said.
PAL in 1998 was forced to file for receivership, citing the impact of a the Asian financial crisis. It returned to profit in 2000 and was declared in financial health two years ago.
"Hopefully the 1998 incident will not happen again but right now the company is working on a rationalizing program. We have tightened our belt in PAL [because] we really need to [cut costs]. This is another challenging year and hopefully the market rebounds and we will able to generate the cash," Mr. Bautista said. — K. J. R. Liu with JF
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Tan ejects brother as turbulence hits PAL
August 25, 2009
Manila Standard Today
by Roderick T. dela Cruz
PAL Holdings, the holding company of Philippine Airlines, has elected a brother of taipan Lucio Tan as its chairman to replace another brother, Mariano Tanenglian, who was removed from the board.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange, PAL Holdings said Harry Tan was appointed the holding firm’s new chairman, replacing Tanenglian as a part of a reorganization of its board committees.
The company did not cite the reasons for the change, but it was believed to have been caused by an unresolved feud between Lucio Tan and his younger brother Tanenglian.
Tanenglian was earlier removed from the board of the Philippine National Bank and Eton Properties Philippines, both of which are controlled by Lucio Tan.
The rift between the two brothers reached a boiling point when Tanenglian threatened to testify for the government in its ill-gotten-wealth cases against his older brother.
Lawyers representing Tanenglian yesterday distributed a copy of a letter to the Presidential Commission on Good Government dated Aug. 19, reminding the agency of their client’s offer to testify against his brother in exchange for immunity for himself and his family.
“Up to the present... after the lapse of more than one month, our client’s offer of cooperation and request for such grant of immunity have not yet been acted upon,” the letter from the Azura Quiroz & Campos law office said.
“In the meantime, the window of opportunity is fast approaching (sic).”
The letter ended with the suggestion that further delay by the commission would be interpreted as the result of pressure “by a very influential party” involved in the case.
In its board reorganization, PAL Holdings also appointed Michael Tan, a son of the taipan, a member of the Audit Committee in place of Enrique Cheng.
Lucio Tan Jr., another son of the taipan, and Juanita Tan Lee were appointed alternate members of the same committee.
Lucio Tan remains chairman of the airline itself while Bautista remains president.
The directors of PAL Holdings nominated for fiscal year 2009-2010 include Lucio Tan, Harry Tan, Jaime Bautista, Domingo Chua, Lucio Tan Jr., Michael Tan, Juanita Tan Lee, and Wilson Young. The independent directors were Johnip Cua, Antonino Alindogan Jr. and Enrique Cheng.
PAL booked a comprehensive income of $35.5 million in the April-June period, which represents the first quarter of its fiscal year.
But the airline said the amount was down by $9.6 million over the same period last year because of declining passenger volume.
The airline incurred a net loss of $301 million in the fiscal year ending March 2009, reversing a net profit of $30.6 million a year earlier.
The airline operates 47 aircraft that fly to 29 domestic destinations and 31 international routes. It employs 8,052 workers and does not expect to hire more employees within the next 12 months.
Manila Standard Today
by Roderick T. dela Cruz
PAL Holdings, the holding company of Philippine Airlines, has elected a brother of taipan Lucio Tan as its chairman to replace another brother, Mariano Tanenglian, who was removed from the board.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange, PAL Holdings said Harry Tan was appointed the holding firm’s new chairman, replacing Tanenglian as a part of a reorganization of its board committees.
The company did not cite the reasons for the change, but it was believed to have been caused by an unresolved feud between Lucio Tan and his younger brother Tanenglian.
Tanenglian was earlier removed from the board of the Philippine National Bank and Eton Properties Philippines, both of which are controlled by Lucio Tan.
The rift between the two brothers reached a boiling point when Tanenglian threatened to testify for the government in its ill-gotten-wealth cases against his older brother.
Lawyers representing Tanenglian yesterday distributed a copy of a letter to the Presidential Commission on Good Government dated Aug. 19, reminding the agency of their client’s offer to testify against his brother in exchange for immunity for himself and his family.
“Up to the present... after the lapse of more than one month, our client’s offer of cooperation and request for such grant of immunity have not yet been acted upon,” the letter from the Azura Quiroz & Campos law office said.
“In the meantime, the window of opportunity is fast approaching (sic).”
The letter ended with the suggestion that further delay by the commission would be interpreted as the result of pressure “by a very influential party” involved in the case.
In its board reorganization, PAL Holdings also appointed Michael Tan, a son of the taipan, a member of the Audit Committee in place of Enrique Cheng.
Lucio Tan Jr., another son of the taipan, and Juanita Tan Lee were appointed alternate members of the same committee.
Lucio Tan remains chairman of the airline itself while Bautista remains president.
The directors of PAL Holdings nominated for fiscal year 2009-2010 include Lucio Tan, Harry Tan, Jaime Bautista, Domingo Chua, Lucio Tan Jr., Michael Tan, Juanita Tan Lee, and Wilson Young. The independent directors were Johnip Cua, Antonino Alindogan Jr. and Enrique Cheng.
PAL booked a comprehensive income of $35.5 million in the April-June period, which represents the first quarter of its fiscal year.
But the airline said the amount was down by $9.6 million over the same period last year because of declining passenger volume.
The airline incurred a net loss of $301 million in the fiscal year ending March 2009, reversing a net profit of $30.6 million a year earlier.
The airline operates 47 aircraft that fly to 29 domestic destinations and 31 international routes. It employs 8,052 workers and does not expect to hire more employees within the next 12 months.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Why arroz caldo is on PAL’s menu?
Philippine Daily Inquirer
August 21, 2009
By Gil Carolino
In 1987, Malacañang appointed me to be a member of The Committee on State Visits of President Corazon C. Aquino. I was then with Philippine Airlines and this unexpected appointment gave me the distinct privilege of going with Tita Cory on all her trips abroad. She made only a handful, less than a dozen (nothing compared to the more than 50 and 30 trips of two Philippine presidents), but they were more than enough for me to know Tita Cory up close and personal.
Tita Cory never gave the PAL crew any problem. She never demanded anything as far as service was concerned, like asking for special and elaborate meals. The only thing that she asked to be served was arroz caldo which, after that, became a standard feature of PAL’s inflight meals.
Tita Cory was very pleasant with the crew and everyone on the plane, including the regular passengers whom Tita Cory sought so she could have even a short conversation with them inside the plane. Everyone was awed by Tita Cory’s simplicity and pure heart.
Lunch at Arlegui
I am neither a close family friend nor an official of her administration, yet, very early on during her presidency, Tita Cory invited me and my wife to have lunch one Sunday with her children (Noynoy and Kris were not there) at the Arlegui residence inside the Malacañang compound. There we saw a fine lady, not the President of the land, but the loving mother to Ballsy, Pinky and Viel and their spouses, and the very doting lola (grandmother) to her apos (grandchildren).
And, how could you not be forever grateful to Tita Cory if she showed genuine concern for your safety and welfare of your family?
A few weeks before the outbreak of the 1991 Gulf war, I was all packed up to be based in Dubai, UAE, to be PAL’s regional vice president/GM for the Middle East. As a matter of respect, I called up the Office of the President and told Tita Cory’s eldest daughter Ballsy to inform the President about it. Before I could even hang up, Tita Cory was already on the line and asked me, “O, gusto mo ba yan?” to which I answered in the affirmative. She might have felt differently because a few minutes after we talked, then PAL Chair and now Quezon City Mayor Sonny Belmonte called me to his office and told me, “O, tumawag si Tita Cory, ayaw ka niyang ma-assign don kasi may guerra daw don.”
Out of harm’s way
I could not describe my feelings. I was simply overwhelmed because, to me, it was unimaginable that the President of the Philippines, who had far more important things to attend to, would personally go out of her way to do that.
Napakahalaga ng buhay ng tao sa kanya. She showed it again when she, subsequently, directed PAL to operate special flights to evacuate her countrymen who had no way out as they were stranded in the region during that most critical period. Tita Cory personally followed up the developments and actual operations of the special flights
which, I thought, she could just have assigned to her Cabinet and staff to coordinate with PAL.
Tita Cory is gone. However, our spontaneous outpouring of grief and sadness is solid proof that we fully embrace the ideals and aspirations she wholeheartedly and endlessly fought for. Let us keep the fire brightly glowing until another Tita Cory comes, though I feel sad realizing the fact that that time will be beyond my lifetime.
August 21, 2009
By Gil Carolino
In 1987, Malacañang appointed me to be a member of The Committee on State Visits of President Corazon C. Aquino. I was then with Philippine Airlines and this unexpected appointment gave me the distinct privilege of going with Tita Cory on all her trips abroad. She made only a handful, less than a dozen (nothing compared to the more than 50 and 30 trips of two Philippine presidents), but they were more than enough for me to know Tita Cory up close and personal.
Tita Cory never gave the PAL crew any problem. She never demanded anything as far as service was concerned, like asking for special and elaborate meals. The only thing that she asked to be served was arroz caldo which, after that, became a standard feature of PAL’s inflight meals.
Tita Cory was very pleasant with the crew and everyone on the plane, including the regular passengers whom Tita Cory sought so she could have even a short conversation with them inside the plane. Everyone was awed by Tita Cory’s simplicity and pure heart.
Lunch at Arlegui
I am neither a close family friend nor an official of her administration, yet, very early on during her presidency, Tita Cory invited me and my wife to have lunch one Sunday with her children (Noynoy and Kris were not there) at the Arlegui residence inside the Malacañang compound. There we saw a fine lady, not the President of the land, but the loving mother to Ballsy, Pinky and Viel and their spouses, and the very doting lola (grandmother) to her apos (grandchildren).
And, how could you not be forever grateful to Tita Cory if she showed genuine concern for your safety and welfare of your family?
A few weeks before the outbreak of the 1991 Gulf war, I was all packed up to be based in Dubai, UAE, to be PAL’s regional vice president/GM for the Middle East. As a matter of respect, I called up the Office of the President and told Tita Cory’s eldest daughter Ballsy to inform the President about it. Before I could even hang up, Tita Cory was already on the line and asked me, “O, gusto mo ba yan?” to which I answered in the affirmative. She might have felt differently because a few minutes after we talked, then PAL Chair and now Quezon City Mayor Sonny Belmonte called me to his office and told me, “O, tumawag si Tita Cory, ayaw ka niyang ma-assign don kasi may guerra daw don.”
Out of harm’s way
I could not describe my feelings. I was simply overwhelmed because, to me, it was unimaginable that the President of the Philippines, who had far more important things to attend to, would personally go out of her way to do that.
Napakahalaga ng buhay ng tao sa kanya. She showed it again when she, subsequently, directed PAL to operate special flights to evacuate her countrymen who had no way out as they were stranded in the region during that most critical period. Tita Cory personally followed up the developments and actual operations of the special flights
which, I thought, she could just have assigned to her Cabinet and staff to coordinate with PAL.
Tita Cory is gone. However, our spontaneous outpouring of grief and sadness is solid proof that we fully embrace the ideals and aspirations she wholeheartedly and endlessly fought for. Let us keep the fire brightly glowing until another Tita Cory comes, though I feel sad realizing the fact that that time will be beyond my lifetime.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
PAL raising capital to P20B
Manila Standard Today
August 4, 2009
by Jenniffer B. Austria
Philippine Airlines Inc., owned by tobacco magnate Lucio Tan, is increasing its authorized capital stock to P20 billion from P16 billion after posting a huge loss last year.
“[PAL] is currently exploring various options to raise additional capital to help improve its equity position after the loss incurred in the fiscal year 2008-2009. By increasing the authorized capital stock, the company will have additional shares available for future investors,” PAL said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
PAL has an authorized capital stock of P16 billion divided into 20 billion common shares with a par value of P0.80 a share.
PAL plans to reduce the par value of the shares from P0.80 to P0.20 and later increase its authorized capital stock to P20 billion, divided into 100 billion common shares at par value of P0.20 a share.
The airline firm has not finalized the number of common shares to be offered to potential investors.
PAL reported a net loss of $301 million in fiscal year ending March, a reversal from a profit of $30.6 million in the previous year.
Revenue rose 8.7 percent to $1.6 billion on higher passenger sales.
Expenses, however, jumped 23.4 percent, or $361 million, due to higher fuel cost.
“The rise in fuel cost by 77.7 percent over the last year’s figure of $470 million was a result of an increase in the average fuel price per barrel of $89 in 2008 to $123 million in 2009,” PAL said.
The flag carrier launched several initiatives to counter the impact of high energy prices, including the creation of a fuel conservation watchdog within the company, and reduced the free baggage allowance on trans-Pacific routes.
PAL is a subsidiary of PAL Holdings Inc., a listed company.
The flag carrier flies to the most popular domestic airline routes and to international and regional points that are either mostly visited by Filipinos or a good source of visitors to the Philippines.
PAL’s route network covered 29 points in the Philippines and 31 international destinations, including Guam, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Melbourne, Sydney, Fukuoka, Nagoya, Osaka, Tokyo, Pusan, Seoul, Hong Kong, Macau, Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen, Taipei, Bangkok, Saigon, Singapore and Jakarta.
August 4, 2009
by Jenniffer B. Austria
Philippine Airlines Inc., owned by tobacco magnate Lucio Tan, is increasing its authorized capital stock to P20 billion from P16 billion after posting a huge loss last year.
“[PAL] is currently exploring various options to raise additional capital to help improve its equity position after the loss incurred in the fiscal year 2008-2009. By increasing the authorized capital stock, the company will have additional shares available for future investors,” PAL said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
PAL has an authorized capital stock of P16 billion divided into 20 billion common shares with a par value of P0.80 a share.
PAL plans to reduce the par value of the shares from P0.80 to P0.20 and later increase its authorized capital stock to P20 billion, divided into 100 billion common shares at par value of P0.20 a share.
The airline firm has not finalized the number of common shares to be offered to potential investors.
PAL reported a net loss of $301 million in fiscal year ending March, a reversal from a profit of $30.6 million in the previous year.
Revenue rose 8.7 percent to $1.6 billion on higher passenger sales.
Expenses, however, jumped 23.4 percent, or $361 million, due to higher fuel cost.
“The rise in fuel cost by 77.7 percent over the last year’s figure of $470 million was a result of an increase in the average fuel price per barrel of $89 in 2008 to $123 million in 2009,” PAL said.
The flag carrier launched several initiatives to counter the impact of high energy prices, including the creation of a fuel conservation watchdog within the company, and reduced the free baggage allowance on trans-Pacific routes.
PAL is a subsidiary of PAL Holdings Inc., a listed company.
The flag carrier flies to the most popular domestic airline routes and to international and regional points that are either mostly visited by Filipinos or a good source of visitors to the Philippines.
PAL’s route network covered 29 points in the Philippines and 31 international destinations, including Guam, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Melbourne, Sydney, Fukuoka, Nagoya, Osaka, Tokyo, Pusan, Seoul, Hong Kong, Macau, Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen, Taipei, Bangkok, Saigon, Singapore and Jakarta.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
PAL to resume flights to Europe
The Manila Times
July 27, 2009
PHILIPPINE Airlines (PAL) is mulling over the resumption of flights to Europe after the Philippine air panel completed an air service agreement (ASA) with the United Kingdom, a high-ranking official of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) said.
Carmelo Arcilla, CAB executive director told reporters that the flag carrier expressed interest to fly to the UK. “We cannot discount the possibility that PAL [would be] resuming its flights to Europe,” he said.
The Philippine and UK governments have agreed to 14 weekly flights to Manila and or Clark and to other points in the country.
Since the start of the year, the CAB had completed air talks with Singapore, Brunei, Australia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.
He said that about 300,000 Filipinos are working in the UK, adding that “there’s really a huge demand.”
PAL’s flight to Europe was discontinued in 1998 after the Asian financial crisis nearly sent the flag carrier into bankruptcy.
At end-March, PAL’s network covered 29 points in the Philippines and 31 international destinations.
It carried an average of 24,508 passengers (14,699 domestic and 9,809 international) and 297 tons of cargo (166 tons domestic and 131 tons international) per day.
The airline held a 45.2-percent share in the domestic market in the fiscal year-ending March, while it cornered 36.6 percent of the trans-Pacific market and 31.6 percent for Asia and Australia.
The airline has 47 operating aircraft, including Airbus 320 and 319, Boeing 747-400, and Bombardiers.
By end 2009, PAL expects the arrival of its two, brand-new and fuel-efficient B777-300ER aircraft from Boeing Co.
PAL earlier reported a net loss of $301 million in the fiscal year ending March from a net profit of $30.6 million in the same period last year.
It said revenues rose by almost 10 percent to $1.6 billion during the period.
-- Darwin G. Amojelar
July 27, 2009
PHILIPPINE Airlines (PAL) is mulling over the resumption of flights to Europe after the Philippine air panel completed an air service agreement (ASA) with the United Kingdom, a high-ranking official of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) said.
Carmelo Arcilla, CAB executive director told reporters that the flag carrier expressed interest to fly to the UK. “We cannot discount the possibility that PAL [would be] resuming its flights to Europe,” he said.
The Philippine and UK governments have agreed to 14 weekly flights to Manila and or Clark and to other points in the country.
Since the start of the year, the CAB had completed air talks with Singapore, Brunei, Australia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.
He said that about 300,000 Filipinos are working in the UK, adding that “there’s really a huge demand.”
PAL’s flight to Europe was discontinued in 1998 after the Asian financial crisis nearly sent the flag carrier into bankruptcy.
At end-March, PAL’s network covered 29 points in the Philippines and 31 international destinations.
It carried an average of 24,508 passengers (14,699 domestic and 9,809 international) and 297 tons of cargo (166 tons domestic and 131 tons international) per day.
The airline held a 45.2-percent share in the domestic market in the fiscal year-ending March, while it cornered 36.6 percent of the trans-Pacific market and 31.6 percent for Asia and Australia.
The airline has 47 operating aircraft, including Airbus 320 and 319, Boeing 747-400, and Bombardiers.
By end 2009, PAL expects the arrival of its two, brand-new and fuel-efficient B777-300ER aircraft from Boeing Co.
PAL earlier reported a net loss of $301 million in the fiscal year ending March from a net profit of $30.6 million in the same period last year.
It said revenues rose by almost 10 percent to $1.6 billion during the period.
-- Darwin G. Amojelar
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
PAL Reports $301 Million loss for 2008, Blames fortune on costlier jet fuel
The Manila Times
By Darwin G Amojelar
July 21, 2009
PHILIPPINE Airlines (PAL) said it posted a net loss in the fiscal year ending March this year due to higher fuel expenses.
The Lucio Tan-owned airline company said net loss amounted to $301 million in the fiscal year ending March from a net profit of $30.6 million in the same period last year.
The country’s flag carrier said revenues rose by almost 10 percent to $1.6 billion during the period.
The airline carried close to nine million passengers during the year, which was nearly 20-percent higher than the previous year. It had a load factor of 76 percent.
PAL’s total expenses at end-March this year were higher by 20 percent compared with the previous year as a result of high fuel cost.
In the third quarter ending December, PAL reported a net loss of $219.86 million due to mark-to-market losses from its fuel hedging contracts.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Asian carriers, which included PAL, would register a total estimated industry loss of $10 billion for 2008.
By end 2009, PAL is expecting the arrival of its two, brand new and fuel-efficient B777-300ER aircraft from Boeing Co., Seattle , USA .
Earlier, PAL Holdings Inc. said Trustmark—the majority shareholder of the company—will repurchase up to $143 million zero-coupon notes and bilateral loans due in 2011.
Trustmark owns 84 percent of PAL Holdings.
PAL Holdings’ notes due in 2011 amounted to $160 million while loans outstanding reached $60 million.
The company’s debts will be repurchased between $50 and $58 million, including an early tender premium of $3 million from the price of $47 million to $50 million.
By Darwin G Amojelar
July 21, 2009
PHILIPPINE Airlines (PAL) said it posted a net loss in the fiscal year ending March this year due to higher fuel expenses.
The Lucio Tan-owned airline company said net loss amounted to $301 million in the fiscal year ending March from a net profit of $30.6 million in the same period last year.
The country’s flag carrier said revenues rose by almost 10 percent to $1.6 billion during the period.
The airline carried close to nine million passengers during the year, which was nearly 20-percent higher than the previous year. It had a load factor of 76 percent.
PAL’s total expenses at end-March this year were higher by 20 percent compared with the previous year as a result of high fuel cost.
In the third quarter ending December, PAL reported a net loss of $219.86 million due to mark-to-market losses from its fuel hedging contracts.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Asian carriers, which included PAL, would register a total estimated industry loss of $10 billion for 2008.
By end 2009, PAL is expecting the arrival of its two, brand new and fuel-efficient B777-300ER aircraft from Boeing Co., Seattle , USA .
Earlier, PAL Holdings Inc. said Trustmark—the majority shareholder of the company—will repurchase up to $143 million zero-coupon notes and bilateral loans due in 2011.
Trustmark owns 84 percent of PAL Holdings.
PAL Holdings’ notes due in 2011 amounted to $160 million while loans outstanding reached $60 million.
The company’s debts will be repurchased between $50 and $58 million, including an early tender premium of $3 million from the price of $47 million to $50 million.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
High fuel, hedging costs take toll on PAL earnings
Philippine Star
By Zinnia B. Dela Peña Updated July 21, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Earnings of airline companies worldwide, including flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL), took a nosedive this year as rising fuel prices and weak demand created an unprecedented crisis for the industry.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, PAL said it booked total comprehensive and mark-to-market losses of $301 million for its fiscal year ending March 2009, mainly due to high fuel and hedging costs.
In recent months, major airlines have also reported massive losses due to their fuel-hedging contracts mainly aimed at shielding them from volatile oil prices. Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific reported record annual losses of $1.1 billion in 2008 while Japan Airlines posted a net loss of $673 million in 2008-2009. Thai Airways lost $628 million for 2008 and Korean Air a whopping $1.5 billion also last year.
In spite of these tough economic challenges, PAL managed to post a nine-percent rise in its revenues to $1.63 billion at the end of its fiscal year, driven by higher passenger revenues. Increased seat demand enabled PAL to carry 8.95 million passengers during the year – 17 percent higher than the previous level.
Passenger load factor was at 76 percent, with aircraft cabins filled up by Mabuhay Miles frequent flyers, overseas Filipino workers and balikbayan traffic.
Total expenses went up 23 percent to $1.93-billion, largely due to high fuel cost. PAL continues to keep operating expenses in check but fuel remains its most volatile expense.
In an effort to ride out the crisis, PAL has engaged in various product and service enhancements. It introduced “WAY TO GO” and “Seat All You Can” – two new low-fare promos aimed at boosting travel even during the lean months of the year.
PAL is also reconfiguring all its B747-400 aircraft under a $50-million refurbishment program to incorporate a bi-class cabin layout. The new design features lie-flat seats in business class and brand new ergonomically-designed seats all from Recaro of Germany. Passengers in both business and economy sections will likewise enjoy the new, state-of-the-art entertainment systems with individual LCD screens per passenger.
By November 2009 and January next year, PAL will take delivery of two new and more fuel-efficient B777-300ER aircraft.
By Zinnia B. Dela Peña Updated July 21, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Earnings of airline companies worldwide, including flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL), took a nosedive this year as rising fuel prices and weak demand created an unprecedented crisis for the industry.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, PAL said it booked total comprehensive and mark-to-market losses of $301 million for its fiscal year ending March 2009, mainly due to high fuel and hedging costs.
In recent months, major airlines have also reported massive losses due to their fuel-hedging contracts mainly aimed at shielding them from volatile oil prices. Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific reported record annual losses of $1.1 billion in 2008 while Japan Airlines posted a net loss of $673 million in 2008-2009. Thai Airways lost $628 million for 2008 and Korean Air a whopping $1.5 billion also last year.
In spite of these tough economic challenges, PAL managed to post a nine-percent rise in its revenues to $1.63 billion at the end of its fiscal year, driven by higher passenger revenues. Increased seat demand enabled PAL to carry 8.95 million passengers during the year – 17 percent higher than the previous level.
Passenger load factor was at 76 percent, with aircraft cabins filled up by Mabuhay Miles frequent flyers, overseas Filipino workers and balikbayan traffic.
Total expenses went up 23 percent to $1.93-billion, largely due to high fuel cost. PAL continues to keep operating expenses in check but fuel remains its most volatile expense.
In an effort to ride out the crisis, PAL has engaged in various product and service enhancements. It introduced “WAY TO GO” and “Seat All You Can” – two new low-fare promos aimed at boosting travel even during the lean months of the year.
PAL is also reconfiguring all its B747-400 aircraft under a $50-million refurbishment program to incorporate a bi-class cabin layout. The new design features lie-flat seats in business class and brand new ergonomically-designed seats all from Recaro of Germany. Passengers in both business and economy sections will likewise enjoy the new, state-of-the-art entertainment systems with individual LCD screens per passenger.
By November 2009 and January next year, PAL will take delivery of two new and more fuel-efficient B777-300ER aircraft.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
PAL Cutting Costs, Freeze Hiring Amid Global Slump
23 June 2009
Manila Standard
(c) 2009 Manila Standard, All Rights Reserved
Flag carrier, Philippine Airlines has implemented several cost cutting measures to survive the global economic crisis that has hurt the airline industry.
"These initiatives ranged from limiting staff travel to essential, operational-related trips, to multi-tasking, to replacement of office lights to CFL lamps to cut electricity bills," PAL president Jaime Bautista said in a statement.
Asked to elaborate on the cost cutting measure, the corporate communication division of the airline said "as early as late last year, the PAL management embarked on an internal cost-management program, soliciting the participation of all employees on different cost cutting initiatives."
Bautista said the honest-to goodness cost cutting program was aimed at weeding out unnecessary expenses to enhance business efficiency.
"Staff hiring is also on hold, except for critical line positions," he said. stressing that the airline continued to train flight crew in preparation for the arrival of new Boeing planes to serve the trans-Pacific flights.
Bautista said that being aware of the challenges facing the airline industry, PAL hopes to adapt and cope with the current market volatility by focusing on product improvement, asset and cost management and business efficiency.
Bautista said that to survive the crisis, PAL had undertaken several initiatives that include maintaining the airline's on time performance which, to date , is better than industry standards.
"Improving customer service both ground and in the air, and offering competitive and affordable rates to loyal customers and new passengers will entice them to fly more and patronize Philippine Airlines, " he said.
Bautista said PAL would also optimize its use of capital , aircraft and human resources.
While focusing on cost cutting measure, the airline said it had launched two low fare promos over the last three months, including "Real Deal" in April and "Way to Go" in early June to encourage travel during the lean months, as well as reward loyal customers.
However, both low fare promos - as low as $38 for a round trip ticket to Taipei during the Real Deal promo as $98 to Hong Kong, Macau or Taipei during the Way to Go promo - had limited sale and travel periods.
"PAL maintained full service on all its flights in spite of the special fares,"it said.
The International Air Transport Association earlier predicted that airlines could post combined losses of $9 billion this year with an unprecedented 15 percent revenue drop that will see industry revenues shrink by $80 billion to $448 billion.
Giovanni Bisignani, the director-general and chief executive of the group, said there were no facts to support optimism and that the industry was in survival mode.
-Roderick T. dela Cruz
Manila Standard
(c) 2009 Manila Standard, All Rights Reserved
Flag carrier, Philippine Airlines has implemented several cost cutting measures to survive the global economic crisis that has hurt the airline industry.
"These initiatives ranged from limiting staff travel to essential, operational-related trips, to multi-tasking, to replacement of office lights to CFL lamps to cut electricity bills," PAL president Jaime Bautista said in a statement.
Asked to elaborate on the cost cutting measure, the corporate communication division of the airline said "as early as late last year, the PAL management embarked on an internal cost-management program, soliciting the participation of all employees on different cost cutting initiatives."
Bautista said the honest-to goodness cost cutting program was aimed at weeding out unnecessary expenses to enhance business efficiency.
"Staff hiring is also on hold, except for critical line positions," he said. stressing that the airline continued to train flight crew in preparation for the arrival of new Boeing planes to serve the trans-Pacific flights.
Bautista said that being aware of the challenges facing the airline industry, PAL hopes to adapt and cope with the current market volatility by focusing on product improvement, asset and cost management and business efficiency.
Bautista said that to survive the crisis, PAL had undertaken several initiatives that include maintaining the airline's on time performance which, to date , is better than industry standards.
"Improving customer service both ground and in the air, and offering competitive and affordable rates to loyal customers and new passengers will entice them to fly more and patronize Philippine Airlines, " he said.
Bautista said PAL would also optimize its use of capital , aircraft and human resources.
While focusing on cost cutting measure, the airline said it had launched two low fare promos over the last three months, including "Real Deal" in April and "Way to Go" in early June to encourage travel during the lean months, as well as reward loyal customers.
However, both low fare promos - as low as $38 for a round trip ticket to Taipei during the Real Deal promo as $98 to Hong Kong, Macau or Taipei during the Way to Go promo - had limited sale and travel periods.
"PAL maintained full service on all its flights in spite of the special fares,"it said.
The International Air Transport Association earlier predicted that airlines could post combined losses of $9 billion this year with an unprecedented 15 percent revenue drop that will see industry revenues shrink by $80 billion to $448 billion.
Giovanni Bisignani, the director-general and chief executive of the group, said there were no facts to support optimism and that the industry was in survival mode.
-Roderick T. dela Cruz
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
PAL continues expansion plans amid crisis
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 05/25/2009 7:50 PM
Despite an environment of rising costs as caused by the global crisis, Philippine Airlines (PAL) said it will push through with its expansion plans this year.
According to PAL Vice President for marketing Felix Cruz, the country's flagship carrier has job openings for reservation, ground crew, and flight staff as it prepares for the delivery of new planes.
"We expect delivery of five Boeing 777-300ERs, which will be deployed for US flights," he said at the Trabaho sa Turismo job fair in Pasay City over the weekend.
He added that PAL remains optimistic about its expansion despite the economic downturn and the influenza A (H1N1) scare, which has grounded many flights of many international carriers.
PAL is awaiting the lifting of the Category 2 rating imposed by the United States Federal Aviation Administration on the Philippine civil aviation system, which prevented PAL from expanding services to the US.
In the second half of 2008, the airline managed to increase its flights to its US West Coast gateways of Los Angeles and San Francisco, adding up to 1,320 seats weekly on PAL's trans-Pacific routes.
Passenger demand
In the said fair during the weekend, Tourism Secretary Ace Durano said tourist traffic in the country's top 15 destinations rose 10.3 percent in the first three months of the year.
This is in contrast with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which earlier reported an 11.1-percent drop in air passenger demand in March even as airlines cut international passenger capacity by 4.4 percent.
IATA Director General Giovanni Bisigniani said the Asia-Pacific region is particularly hit by the slump in international air travel, with a 14.5-percent drop in passenger demand.
Despite an environment of rising costs as caused by the global crisis, Philippine Airlines (PAL) said it will push through with its expansion plans this year.
According to PAL Vice President for marketing Felix Cruz, the country's flagship carrier has job openings for reservation, ground crew, and flight staff as it prepares for the delivery of new planes.
"We expect delivery of five Boeing 777-300ERs, which will be deployed for US flights," he said at the Trabaho sa Turismo job fair in Pasay City over the weekend.
He added that PAL remains optimistic about its expansion despite the economic downturn and the influenza A (H1N1) scare, which has grounded many flights of many international carriers.
PAL is awaiting the lifting of the Category 2 rating imposed by the United States Federal Aviation Administration on the Philippine civil aviation system, which prevented PAL from expanding services to the US.
In the second half of 2008, the airline managed to increase its flights to its US West Coast gateways of Los Angeles and San Francisco, adding up to 1,320 seats weekly on PAL's trans-Pacific routes.
Passenger demand
In the said fair during the weekend, Tourism Secretary Ace Durano said tourist traffic in the country's top 15 destinations rose 10.3 percent in the first three months of the year.
This is in contrast with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which earlier reported an 11.1-percent drop in air passenger demand in March even as airlines cut international passenger capacity by 4.4 percent.
IATA Director General Giovanni Bisigniani said the Asia-Pacific region is particularly hit by the slump in international air travel, with a 14.5-percent drop in passenger demand.
PAL inks marketing deal with Travelport
Business Mirror
May 25, 2009
Philippine Airlines (PAL) and Travelport, one of the world’s largest travel conglomerates, signed a three-year global-marketing agreement that enables Galileo, Apollo and Worldspan connected travel agents to access automated market fares and take advantage of additional functionality until the end of 2011.
The Travelport deal includes two strategic solutions for PAL’s customers with the implementation of Octopus Travel hotel content on the PAL website and the use of Travelport Rapid Reprice, an automated ticket-repricing product.
Octopus Travel, Travelport’s innovative online travel company, provides hotel content on PAL’s web site (http://www.philippineairlines.com/hotels), giving customers’ access to more than 21,000 hotels in 129 countries. The expanded hotel offering provides customers with a wide mix of lodgings at affordable prices ranging from one to five star hotels, international chains to small boutique hotels. Customers can also compare prices, view hotel locations and evaluate hotel amenities.
PAL also becomes the first Asian carrier to implement Travelport Rapid Reprice, which enables PAL to recalculate a ticket reflecting the appropriate taxes, additional collections, refunds, penalties or administrative fees. The automated product minimizes revenue leakage from miscalculated collections and fees that remain inherent in a manual repricing process.
It also virtually eliminates debit memos due to superior data integrity and repricing accuracy. The solution facilitates repricing of tickets irrespective of the booking system that the ticket was issued on.
“We are glad to work with Travelport in offering new cutting-edge, automated services to our customers. It enhances the features of our website through Octopus Travel as well as the convenience of an automated re-pricing tool and refund for our sales offices through Rapid Reprice,” said Enrique Javier, PAL for sales.
“This partnership with Travelport gives our customers a wider choice of hotels while browsing PAL’s web site [Octopus trave], over and above the accommodations included in PAL’s tour packages [PALakbayan and Swingaround],” he added.
Brad Holman, President and managing director of Travelport GDS-Asia Pacific said, “We are celebrating three ‘firsts’ in the Philippines today. This signing represents the first marketing agreement between PAL and Travelport. It also marks Rapid Reprice’s first airline customer in Asia, as well as PAL’s expanded hotel choice for customers with its tie-up with Octopus Travel.”
“Travelport works closely with our airline partners to provide them with products that help them stay ahead of the competition, improve the overall customer experience, grow revenue while also keeping costs as pared down as possible. Airline ticket reissue headaches can be a thing of the past with Rapid Reprice. The product dramatically reduces the number of key strokes involved in repricing a ticket from around 500 strokes to less than 10, thus improving the airline’s productivity, efficiency and accuracy,” Holman added.
Travelport’s Rapid Reprice™ is used by airlines to automate the complex, time-consuming itinerary repricing function. Rapid Reprice automatically integrates fare and rule categories from SITA and Airline Tariff Publishing Co. (ATPCO) including voluntary changes, net fares, private fares and fare-by-rule.
Travelport Rapid Reprice has been delivering financial rewards to some of the world’s largest carriers including United Airlines, Delta and Emirates. The product was first launched in 1999 via the Worldspan GDS platform and more than 27 million transactions were processed using Travelport Rapid Reprice last year.
More than 100 million fully automated transactions have been processed since launch, demonstrating the product’s unique functionality and scalability.
May 25, 2009
Philippine Airlines (PAL) and Travelport, one of the world’s largest travel conglomerates, signed a three-year global-marketing agreement that enables Galileo, Apollo and Worldspan connected travel agents to access automated market fares and take advantage of additional functionality until the end of 2011.
The Travelport deal includes two strategic solutions for PAL’s customers with the implementation of Octopus Travel hotel content on the PAL website and the use of Travelport Rapid Reprice, an automated ticket-repricing product.
Octopus Travel, Travelport’s innovative online travel company, provides hotel content on PAL’s web site (http://www.philippineairlines.com/hotels), giving customers’ access to more than 21,000 hotels in 129 countries. The expanded hotel offering provides customers with a wide mix of lodgings at affordable prices ranging from one to five star hotels, international chains to small boutique hotels. Customers can also compare prices, view hotel locations and evaluate hotel amenities.
PAL also becomes the first Asian carrier to implement Travelport Rapid Reprice, which enables PAL to recalculate a ticket reflecting the appropriate taxes, additional collections, refunds, penalties or administrative fees. The automated product minimizes revenue leakage from miscalculated collections and fees that remain inherent in a manual repricing process.
It also virtually eliminates debit memos due to superior data integrity and repricing accuracy. The solution facilitates repricing of tickets irrespective of the booking system that the ticket was issued on.
“We are glad to work with Travelport in offering new cutting-edge, automated services to our customers. It enhances the features of our website through Octopus Travel as well as the convenience of an automated re-pricing tool and refund for our sales offices through Rapid Reprice,” said Enrique Javier, PAL for sales.
“This partnership with Travelport gives our customers a wider choice of hotels while browsing PAL’s web site [Octopus trave], over and above the accommodations included in PAL’s tour packages [PALakbayan and Swingaround],” he added.
Brad Holman, President and managing director of Travelport GDS-Asia Pacific said, “We are celebrating three ‘firsts’ in the Philippines today. This signing represents the first marketing agreement between PAL and Travelport. It also marks Rapid Reprice’s first airline customer in Asia, as well as PAL’s expanded hotel choice for customers with its tie-up with Octopus Travel.”
“Travelport works closely with our airline partners to provide them with products that help them stay ahead of the competition, improve the overall customer experience, grow revenue while also keeping costs as pared down as possible. Airline ticket reissue headaches can be a thing of the past with Rapid Reprice. The product dramatically reduces the number of key strokes involved in repricing a ticket from around 500 strokes to less than 10, thus improving the airline’s productivity, efficiency and accuracy,” Holman added.
Travelport’s Rapid Reprice™ is used by airlines to automate the complex, time-consuming itinerary repricing function. Rapid Reprice automatically integrates fare and rule categories from SITA and Airline Tariff Publishing Co. (ATPCO) including voluntary changes, net fares, private fares and fare-by-rule.
Travelport Rapid Reprice has been delivering financial rewards to some of the world’s largest carriers including United Airlines, Delta and Emirates. The product was first launched in 1999 via the Worldspan GDS platform and more than 27 million transactions were processed using Travelport Rapid Reprice last year.
More than 100 million fully automated transactions have been processed since launch, demonstrating the product’s unique functionality and scalability.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
PAL refurbishes B747 with world-class amenities
Philippine Star
Updated May 17, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Airlines (PAL) recently rolled out its second reconfigured Boeing 747-400 that features brand new and luxurious cabin amenities rivaling some of the world’s best airlines.
The upgrading is part of PAL’s US$50-million aircraft refurbishment program. It started last year after the airline management decided to reconfigure its long-haul aircraft to bi-class – taking out the First Class section – in keeping with the trend of major airlines worldwide.
The latest PAL B747-400 to undergo a facelift completed its three-month refurbishment on April 9, 2009 at PAL’s maintenance service provider in Taipei. New business and economy class seats, state-of-the-art inflight entertainment system and a new cabin design were installed in the aircraft.
The new cabin amenities and interior look can be viewed even without boarding the aircraft by taking the B747 cabin virtual tour at PAL’s website (philippineairlines.com) where an interactive 360 degree view of Mabuhay (lower and upper deck) and economy class can be accessed. The virtual tour is available on the website starting May 18.
Renowned aircraft seat manufacturer Recaro of Germany supplied the 391 seats (56 in Mabuhay and 335 in fiesta), offering generous seat pitch (60 inches in Mabuhay and 32 to 34 inches in economy). Luxurious Mabuhay seats are ergonomically designed and can be transformed into a lie-flat bed complete with a cocoon-type privacy shell.
Each seat has audio/video on-demand capability, including a personal TV (10 to 15-inch monitors for Mabuhay and nine-inch monitors for economy). The state-of-the-art inflight entertainment system allows passengers to choose from a library of video and audio content, including 18 movies, 8 TV programs, 12 radio channels and 50 CD albums. Digital games are also available for young passengers while in-seat power for laptops is provided in Mabuhay class.
Passengers are also welcomed by the cabin’s new look and feel – coastal-themed interiors characterized by palm-tree landscape design at the fore and aft sections of the aircraft, deep-blue seat upholstery with silvery-copper threads in Mabuhay class and undulating wave-pattern of blue, aqua and terracotta palette in Economy. To complete the airy, spacious feel, curtains, carpet and surfaces are in shades of blue, white, gray, silver and tan.
The refurbishment/reconfiguration of the B747s is capped by a new type of Mabuhay Class meal service called “One-by-One” – a la carte service where passengers select their own meal from a variety of choices. Each dish is individually plated, giving each meal a tailored touch, in the tradition of fine-dining restaurants. On-demand service means passengers can take their meals anytime during the flight.
Refurbishment of the first PAL B747-400 was completed in October 2008, signaling the start of a $50-million refurbishment program of PAL’s flagship aircraft. RP-C7471 was also equipped with the same world-class amenities.
Updated May 17, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Airlines (PAL) recently rolled out its second reconfigured Boeing 747-400 that features brand new and luxurious cabin amenities rivaling some of the world’s best airlines.
The upgrading is part of PAL’s US$50-million aircraft refurbishment program. It started last year after the airline management decided to reconfigure its long-haul aircraft to bi-class – taking out the First Class section – in keeping with the trend of major airlines worldwide.
The latest PAL B747-400 to undergo a facelift completed its three-month refurbishment on April 9, 2009 at PAL’s maintenance service provider in Taipei. New business and economy class seats, state-of-the-art inflight entertainment system and a new cabin design were installed in the aircraft.
The new cabin amenities and interior look can be viewed even without boarding the aircraft by taking the B747 cabin virtual tour at PAL’s website (philippineairlines.com) where an interactive 360 degree view of Mabuhay (lower and upper deck) and economy class can be accessed. The virtual tour is available on the website starting May 18.
Renowned aircraft seat manufacturer Recaro of Germany supplied the 391 seats (56 in Mabuhay and 335 in fiesta), offering generous seat pitch (60 inches in Mabuhay and 32 to 34 inches in economy). Luxurious Mabuhay seats are ergonomically designed and can be transformed into a lie-flat bed complete with a cocoon-type privacy shell.
Each seat has audio/video on-demand capability, including a personal TV (10 to 15-inch monitors for Mabuhay and nine-inch monitors for economy). The state-of-the-art inflight entertainment system allows passengers to choose from a library of video and audio content, including 18 movies, 8 TV programs, 12 radio channels and 50 CD albums. Digital games are also available for young passengers while in-seat power for laptops is provided in Mabuhay class.
Passengers are also welcomed by the cabin’s new look and feel – coastal-themed interiors characterized by palm-tree landscape design at the fore and aft sections of the aircraft, deep-blue seat upholstery with silvery-copper threads in Mabuhay class and undulating wave-pattern of blue, aqua and terracotta palette in Economy. To complete the airy, spacious feel, curtains, carpet and surfaces are in shades of blue, white, gray, silver and tan.
The refurbishment/reconfiguration of the B747s is capped by a new type of Mabuhay Class meal service called “One-by-One” – a la carte service where passengers select their own meal from a variety of choices. Each dish is individually plated, giving each meal a tailored touch, in the tradition of fine-dining restaurants. On-demand service means passengers can take their meals anytime during the flight.
Refurbishment of the first PAL B747-400 was completed in October 2008, signaling the start of a $50-million refurbishment program of PAL’s flagship aircraft. RP-C7471 was also equipped with the same world-class amenities.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Holdings firm set to prepay PAL notes, debt
Philippine Daily Inquirer
By Riza T. Olchondra
May 14, 2009
MANILA, Philippines—Philippine Airlines unsecured zero coupon notes and bilateral loans due in 2011 are set to be prepaid through the controlling shareholder of its parent company, PAL Holdings Inc.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, PAL Holdings said its controlling shareholder, Trustmark Holdings Corp., “proposes to buy a combination of notes and other [debts] up to an aggregate principal amount of $143 million, at its sole discretion.”
The buyback will be undertaken through a so-called Dutch auction, or an open descending price auction.
The aggregate principal amount of notes and loans combined is about $220 million.
The early tender is set on May 19. Those who will tender their notes by this time will receive their purchase price plus an early tender premium.
The offer expires on May 22 at 4 p.m. (GMT). The transaction is expected to be settled on May 29, PAL Holdings said.
JP Morgan Securities Ltd. is the sole dealer and manager of this transaction.
As part of the transaction, Trustmark will become the beneficial owner of the purchased notes and other debts.
PAL Holdings said that Trustmark would use the proceeds for future equity subscriptions.
Trustmark is controlled by PAL chair Lucio Tan.
It is the primary shareholder of PAL Holdings Inc. which, in turn, owns 84 percent of the issued share capital of the flag carrier.
By Riza T. Olchondra
May 14, 2009
MANILA, Philippines—Philippine Airlines unsecured zero coupon notes and bilateral loans due in 2011 are set to be prepaid through the controlling shareholder of its parent company, PAL Holdings Inc.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, PAL Holdings said its controlling shareholder, Trustmark Holdings Corp., “proposes to buy a combination of notes and other [debts] up to an aggregate principal amount of $143 million, at its sole discretion.”
The buyback will be undertaken through a so-called Dutch auction, or an open descending price auction.
The aggregate principal amount of notes and loans combined is about $220 million.
The early tender is set on May 19. Those who will tender their notes by this time will receive their purchase price plus an early tender premium.
The offer expires on May 22 at 4 p.m. (GMT). The transaction is expected to be settled on May 29, PAL Holdings said.
JP Morgan Securities Ltd. is the sole dealer and manager of this transaction.
As part of the transaction, Trustmark will become the beneficial owner of the purchased notes and other debts.
PAL Holdings said that Trustmark would use the proceeds for future equity subscriptions.
Trustmark is controlled by PAL chair Lucio Tan.
It is the primary shareholder of PAL Holdings Inc. which, in turn, owns 84 percent of the issued share capital of the flag carrier.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
PAL Interclub lures RP's past, present and future champs
Daily Mirror
Feb 13, 2009
If one goes over the list of players who have participated in the Philippine Airlines Interclub Golf Tournament, it would be safe to conclude that the annual golfing event that had its auspicious beginnings in 1948 has lured the country’s past, present and future champions.
Here’s why: in the inaugural tournament, Wack Wack Golf and Country Club played host to five other teams: Manila Golf Club, Buayas Link, Negros Occidental, Cebu Country Club and the United States Army.
What highlighted the event was the presence of four men who conceptualized and then launched what is now generally considered as the country’s national team championship: PAL senior vice president Buenaventura Veloso, Col. Ramon Zosa, Ben Gaston and Leopoldo Rovira.
Since then, the list of the player was virtually an RP golf who’s who, starting with pioneers Johnny Cuadrado, Stewart Barnett, Sol Alcantara, Carlos Coscolluela, Mervyn Simpson, Benny Laperal and Pedro Lopez.
After that, the list just keeps on improving like wine: Luis “Golem” Silverio, Agustin Coscolluela, Jr., Manuel Rodriguez, Alex Prieto, Manuel Nieto, Alex Montelibano, Jose “Tetu” Santos, Steve Cuenca, Francis Gaston, Tommy Monotoc and Alan Gaston.
After that came Frankie Minoza, Howie Hagedorn, Felix de Leon, Emilio Tuason, Cassius Casas, Gil Ababa, Mario Manibay, Antolin Fernando, Norman Sto. Domingo, Delano Bangay, Rudy Basak, Jr., Robert Pactolerin and Nestor “Jun Jun” Plana, Jr.
The list goes on: Panchito Garcia, Jose Cedo, Jr., Dave Hernandez, Rolando Viray, Cesar Ababa, Danny Zarate, Bong Lopez, Jake Tan, Ruben Sasutil, Wigberto “Iggy” Clavecilla, Richard Singueo, Juan Miguel Rocha, Angelo Que, Jonel Ababa, Mark Fernando and Erwin Vinluan.
This year’s action starts February 19 with the staging of the 22nd Senior's championship, followed by the 62nd Men’s regular tournament February 25. The Apo Golf and Country Club and Rancho Palos Verdes Golf and Country Club of Davao are the hosts.
This year’s platinum sponsors are Solar Sports, Mizuno, MTV Philippines, Radio Mindanao Network, Business Mirror, Lifestyle (ABS-CBN cable network), Airbus and Boeing.
The major backers are XFM 92.3, Crossover 105.5, Bombo Radyo, People Asia, Royal Caribbean and Crown Asia, with Inquirer.net and PAGCOR as corporate supporters.
Completing the sponsor’s list are Century Park Hotel and Rajah Broadcasting Network.
The traditional hitting of ceremonial drives will highlight both events on February 18 in the Senior's event at Rancho Palos Verdes and February 25 at Apo for the Men’s regular.
PAL Assistant Senior VP for Mindanao Domingo Duerme is tournament chairman.
Seventy seven international teams from the United States, Canada, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Asia and the Philippines are competing in the Senior's event and 76 in the Men’s regular. To be contested are team and individual trophies in the Championship, Founders, Sportswriters and Friendship divisions.
Feb 13, 2009
If one goes over the list of players who have participated in the Philippine Airlines Interclub Golf Tournament, it would be safe to conclude that the annual golfing event that had its auspicious beginnings in 1948 has lured the country’s past, present and future champions.
Here’s why: in the inaugural tournament, Wack Wack Golf and Country Club played host to five other teams: Manila Golf Club, Buayas Link, Negros Occidental, Cebu Country Club and the United States Army.
What highlighted the event was the presence of four men who conceptualized and then launched what is now generally considered as the country’s national team championship: PAL senior vice president Buenaventura Veloso, Col. Ramon Zosa, Ben Gaston and Leopoldo Rovira.
Since then, the list of the player was virtually an RP golf who’s who, starting with pioneers Johnny Cuadrado, Stewart Barnett, Sol Alcantara, Carlos Coscolluela, Mervyn Simpson, Benny Laperal and Pedro Lopez.
After that, the list just keeps on improving like wine: Luis “Golem” Silverio, Agustin Coscolluela, Jr., Manuel Rodriguez, Alex Prieto, Manuel Nieto, Alex Montelibano, Jose “Tetu” Santos, Steve Cuenca, Francis Gaston, Tommy Monotoc and Alan Gaston.
After that came Frankie Minoza, Howie Hagedorn, Felix de Leon, Emilio Tuason, Cassius Casas, Gil Ababa, Mario Manibay, Antolin Fernando, Norman Sto. Domingo, Delano Bangay, Rudy Basak, Jr., Robert Pactolerin and Nestor “Jun Jun” Plana, Jr.
The list goes on: Panchito Garcia, Jose Cedo, Jr., Dave Hernandez, Rolando Viray, Cesar Ababa, Danny Zarate, Bong Lopez, Jake Tan, Ruben Sasutil, Wigberto “Iggy” Clavecilla, Richard Singueo, Juan Miguel Rocha, Angelo Que, Jonel Ababa, Mark Fernando and Erwin Vinluan.
This year’s action starts February 19 with the staging of the 22nd Senior's championship, followed by the 62nd Men’s regular tournament February 25. The Apo Golf and Country Club and Rancho Palos Verdes Golf and Country Club of Davao are the hosts.
This year’s platinum sponsors are Solar Sports, Mizuno, MTV Philippines, Radio Mindanao Network, Business Mirror, Lifestyle (ABS-CBN cable network), Airbus and Boeing.
The major backers are XFM 92.3, Crossover 105.5, Bombo Radyo, People Asia, Royal Caribbean and Crown Asia, with Inquirer.net and PAGCOR as corporate supporters.
Completing the sponsor’s list are Century Park Hotel and Rajah Broadcasting Network.
The traditional hitting of ceremonial drives will highlight both events on February 18 in the Senior's event at Rancho Palos Verdes and February 25 at Apo for the Men’s regular.
PAL Assistant Senior VP for Mindanao Domingo Duerme is tournament chairman.
Seventy seven international teams from the United States, Canada, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Asia and the Philippines are competing in the Senior's event and 76 in the Men’s regular. To be contested are team and individual trophies in the Championship, Founders, Sportswriters and Friendship divisions.
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