PAL cancels flights due to lack of pilots

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Airlines yesterday cancelled eight domestic flights and one international flight to Hong Kong due to lack of pilots after many of the airline’s pilots have resigned or have been hired by foreign airlines that pay higher wages.

Seven other PAL flights were delayed after the airline’s pilots terminated their contracts last Friday to transfer to higher-paying jobs in the Middle East and Vietnam. 

PAL spokesman Jonathan Gesmundo admitted that the problem was caused by a “brain drain” when some PAL pilots applied for work in other airlines without informing the management.

“It has to do with the lack of pilots. For the past days there were pilots who left indiscriminately without notice, that’s why we are having problems,” he said.

Gesmundo apologized for the disruption of flights and downplayed the situation, saying less than a dozen pilots were involved.

He said all of the cancelled flights involve the A320 series passenger jets.

“Unfortunately we have had recent indiscriminate resignations of A320 pilots, and we are now faced with inadequate flight deck crew to man A320 aircraft.”

Gesmundo could not say how many pilots have resigned, but reiterated that it was just a small number.

He added that the absence of pilots was not a group action.

“We are still adjusting flight schedules and the PAL management expects the situation to normalize in a few days.” He did not elaborate.

Gesmundo said many of the pilots who left submitted their resignations then abruptly left the next day, thus catching PAL management by surprise.

He clarified that the pilots’ resignations has nothing to do with the management’s ongoing labor dispute with the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA), since the dispute involves personnel whose functions include ground handling.

“The A320 pilots left PAL because they were poached by foreign-owned airlines and offered bigger salaries that we cannot match,” Gesmundo said.

Because of the lack of pilots, PAL is studying the possibility of temporarily grounding some of its A320 aircrafts.

He said it would take several months to train pilots to fly A320 aircraft.

“It will take several months to train pilots. We have our own school, the PAL Aviation School in Clark.”

Gesmundo said PAL management has been trying to advise all passengers of the cancelled flights that they might be able to leave on Sunday morning.

“We might field bigger aircraft such as the B747 or A300 for Sunday’s flights to accommodate the affected passengers.”

Gesmundo said their contract stipulates that pilots must notify the management at least 60 days prior to their departure.

He said it is up to the legal department to file the appropriate action if they feel that those who hastily left violated the agreement.

One of the pilots, who asked not to be identified, said that the action of the pilots was “legal” as they waited for 30 days before they resigned.

Capt. Sonny Jose, a retired PAL A300 pilot who now flies for a private company, said that his colleagues have left for the Middle East and Vietnam, where the offer is about $7,000 (about P350,000) a month for those with Air Transport Rating (ATR) license. On the other hand, a pilot with Airbus experience would be offered about $8,000 (P400,000) starting salary.

The cancelled international flight was PR 318 bound for Hong Kong. The rest are all domestic flights that include PR-843 and 844, to and from Cebu; PR-181 and 182, to and from Cagayan; PR-133 and 134, to and from Bacolod; and PR-147 and 148, to and from Iloilo.

The seven delayed flights were those bound for Cebu, Puerto Princesa, Davao, Zamboanga and Iloilo.

P-noy acts on PAL pilots’ exodus

President Aquino ordered Transportation and Communications Secretary Jose de Jesus to look into the lack of PAL pilots that led to the cancellation of flights.

He said the Department of Labor was also reviewing the labor issues involving PAL as reports indicated that the resignations of the pilots were done simultaneously to hamper the airline’s operations.

“There are actually no labor issues but they will review because some issues might have been overlooked,” Aquino said.

“All agencies (as of yesterday afternoon) or latest by Monday, need to sit down and PAL promised that they will have a revised schedule by tomorrow, but we will still be sitting down with them,” he said.

Aquino likewise said the government would look into the brain drain, especially in the fields of engineering and the sciences.

“He (De Jesus) gave me a short brief of what is actually transpiring. And this is the issue – many of our pilots are getting pirated,” Aquino said.

“I’m expecting Secretary De Jesus and other concerned agencies to start talking to PAL because PAL has obligations…they are a public conveyance, they have commitments to service the interests of the public and it is something that has to be addressed,” he said.

Meanwhile, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz underscored the need to strictly implement the “six-month notice” policy of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) for Filipino pilots who intend to work in foreign airlines.

Baldoz said she would ask the POEA to study how the policy could be implemented strictly to ensure that airline companies are prepared when their pilots leave.

“It used to be 30 days but the POEA extended it to six months when foreign airlines started doing massive recruitment of pilots. The POEA will have to study how that can be strictly implemented,” said Baldoz, who used to head the POEA.

Under the policy, pilots must give their employers a six-month grace period before their resignation could take effect.  

But what happened is that many pilots are hired directly by foreign airlines and they do not go through the POEA, thus enabling them not to comply with the policy.

Asked about possible interventions that the Department of Labor and Employment could undertake concerning flight cancellations at PAL, Baldoz claimed there is “no labor dispute” cases pending with the agency involving PAL pilots.

“There is no labor dispute concerning pilots’ problems with the management. So for now, it’s a transportation issue,” she added. – With Aurea Calica, Sheila Crisostomo, AP