By ANJO PEREZ, JC BELLO RUIZ
July 31, 2010, 7:00pm
The management of Philippine Airlines (PAL) has assured the riding public that everything is being undertaken to address the “inconvenience” caused by what it described as “indiscriminate resignation” of its pilots, which in turn, disrupt some of its domestic and regional operations.
This as President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III ordered Transportation and Telecommunications Secretary Jose de Jesus to meet with PAL management in order to address the situation, which could hurt trade and commerce should it becomes protracted.
"I already instructed the Secretary of Transportation and Communications (Jose De Jesus). We're now reviewing the labor (aspect of the problem). We'll have them (labor issues) reviewed. We will be sitting with them,” Aquino said.
It could be possible that the meeting would have taken place as of press time (Saturday afternoon), at the earliest or "at the latest by Monday."
"I understand PAL will be coming up with a revised schedule... and I am expecting Sec. De Jesus and other concerned agencies to start talking to PAL because PAL has obligations. They're a public conveyance so they have commitments to service the interests of the public and if these is not being met then this has to be addressed," the Chief Executive said.
Flight operations of the flag carrier were partially crippled Saturday following the mass resignation of 12 sets of flight deck crews, who are specifically rated to handle A320 aircraft. One set is composed of a captain and a first officer.
Due to the lack of qualified pilots, PAL was forced to cancel some flights where this type of plane is used. About eight domestic and three regional flights have been cancelled as of 1 p.m. It also caused the delay of some 20 flights.
Among those cancelled flights include three Manila-Hong Kong flights and domestic flights between Manila and Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod and Iloilo. Most of the passengers of the cancelled flights had been informed by the airline company beforehand so passenger inconvenience was avoided.
PAL “apologized” to its customers for the “inconvenience.”
“We have cancelled some flights, particularly those being serviced by A320. But we are replacing these routes with bigger aircraft, the A330,” PAL President Jaime Bautista told Manila Bulletin in an interview.
An A320 jet has a seating capacity of 150 passengers, of which 12 are business class. On the other hand, an A330 aircraft has a capacity of 302 passengers, of which 42 are business class.
PAL, for now, is readjusting its flight schedules to return back to normal its operations with the next few days.
It, also, assured its affected customers that they will be rebooked on the next available flight.
Bautista confirmed that 24 flight deck crews have resigned to join other regional airlines. It was learned that some will reportedly transfer to Hong Kong Air and Qatar Airways, which offer three times their present salaries.
“With the regional economy recovering and the airline industry on the rebound, airline companies are looking for more pilots. And we’ve been affected,” explained Bautista.
This so-called brain-drain issue has apparently disturb, even the Chief Executive, saying the government may have to address this.
"Regarding the 'brain drain,' I was just talking to, briefly, with Sec. 'Ping' (De Jesus), he actually gave me a small briefer of actually what is transpiring. The issue is our pilots are being pirated," Aquino said.
Bautista, meanwhile, admitted that PAL is unable to match the higher pay offered to their flight deck crew, who left in disregard of the company’s regulation of a 30-day notice and six months notification mandated by the Philippine Overseas Employment Authority (POEA) headed then by Linda Baldoz, who now is the Labor and Employment secretary.
The haste by which the resignation was made is “in violation of their contracts with PAL as well as pertinent government regulations that require resigning pilots to give the company ample time to train their replacements.”
“It is unfair for PAL to just leave without complying with the 30-day notice. It takes time to train a pilot,” Bautista lamented.
As such PAL, in a statement, said it will soon file appropriate charges against pilots who chose not to report for work immediately after submitting resignation letters.
Most of the pilots still owe PAL the cost of their aviation school training, which run into millions of pesos per pilot.
“We have not accepted their resignation because they still have accountability with us,” Bautista said.
PAL first Asian airline to cross Pacific Ocean
MANILA (PNA) – On July 31, 1946, the Philippine Airlines (PAL) claimed the official title of being the first Asian airline to cross the Pacific Ocean, departing from the then Nielson Airport in Makati to the United States mainland with a DC-4 aircraft.
After that, PAL started its official service between Manila and San Francisco in December 1946.
Other international flights to Hong Kong, Bangkok and Taipei followed in April 1953.
Earlier, deeply involved in shaping the course of the country's historic events, PAL began its flight on March 15, 1941, using a Beech Model 18 aircraft, making one flight daily between Manila and Baguio, amid the specter of a global war.
It became Asia's first airline.
Now, PAL has become one of the most respected airlines around the world with a young and modern fleet of aircraft and a route network that spans 31 foreign cities and 30 domestic points.
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