Vivienne Tan: Shining through

As a little girl, she wanted to be an investigative journalist. She loved her writing classes (today, she writes her own speeches) but her conservative parents frowned on her going out into the streets to dig up a smelly scoop even for the school paper.

So Vivienne Tan, sixth of seven children of taipan Lucio Tan and his wife Carmen, then turned to fashion. She remembers buying a Barbie doll that was fashioned after a stewardess and dressing her up. Friends joke that it was probably why her father bought an airline decades later.

“I always wanted my work to have meaning. May saysay,” says the beautiful Chinese-Filipino working heiress. “Whether as a journalist, a politician, an entrepreneur, an educator.”

Vivienne ran her own school for entrepreneurs before answering the call to help out in one of the Tan family’s flagship businesses, Philippine Airlines (PAL).

She knew how much the flag carrier meant to her father. In 1997, when it had run into financial trouble due to a crippling pilots’ strike, “Kapitan,” as her father is widely known in the industry, told her, “Philippine Airlines is the Philippines. If you shut it down, it is also as if the Philippines has gone out of business.” He told her he would not let it down.

Those words were seared onto her mind, and when she hopped on board PAL early this year, she knew it wasn’t just going to be a job. It was going to be a commitment, not just to her father, but to the country.

These days, if you even dream of having a free ride on PAL, make sure you are representing the country in a competition that will make Filipinos proud. Vivienne says they have sponsored the trips of athletes and artists who had no means to fly but who wore the Philippine colors on their sleeve.

Her goal, as executive vice president of PAL’s commercial group, is not just more bookings for Asia’s first airline.

“If PAL can influence the way people perceive Filipinos, then I feel I have done my job well. Because I realized that there are a lot of things PAL can do for our country and its image with every flight it makes. If our crew can show to foreigners and fellow Filipinos how truly and naturally warm, hospitable and efficient we are, tutulungan at tutulungan nila talaga ang Pilipinas.”

She is proud of PAL’s cabin crew. “They all have this certain aura that comes from being well-groomed from head to toe. And they possess this certain diskarte that you won’t find in any other crew.”

“Our responsibility here is to highlight the best places in the Philippines,” adds Vivienne, noting that of late, Puerto Princesa has become the second most popular destination of PAL passengers (Cebu being the first).

Vivienne makes no apologies for the added perks and amenities PAL has on board. “We are a full-service airline. We are not a budget carrier. You get your bottle of water free with us. You don’t get charged for every piece of luggage.”

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Vivienne, whose major marching order as EVP of commercial is to generate revenue for PAL, thinks beyond price cuts to attract passenger traffic. When she came onboard PAL, she challenged her team to come up with promotions that would pique the public’s interest and sustain their attention.

One of these was the “Fly All You Can” promo launched last August whose innovativeness made it to an article in USA Today. Starting yesterday, PAL launched the beginning of a 12-day promo that had something new to offer each day. Yesterday, for instance, it promised to double the miles of every ticket bought under the promo — despite it being a promo ticket.

“So far, so good,” smiles Vivienne. In addition to the brisk business generated by the promotions, PAL operations are “100 percent back to normal” after a wildcat strike in September triggered by the airline’s decision to outsource some of its services.

“We have turned a new leaf,” says the pretty airline executive, who admits to being under more pressure to excel because she is the airline’s COO (‘Child of Owner,’ so to speak). “We have started rebuilding a lasting relationship with our passengers, majority of whom have remained loyal to us throughout the strike.”

During the difficult period, some PAL die-hards, according to Vivienne, were even willing to postpone their trips until normal flight operations resumed.

“We will wait!” she quotes them as having assured the airline.

With the in-flight services building now also operating normally after the strikers left their barricade, “You can expect good food in good china again.”

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During the strike, Vivienne worked seven days a week and sometimes worked well into the wee hours of the morning. She felt there was a covenant between the passengers and the airline, and she worked hard not to breach it.

She starts work at around 7 a.m. and leaves her desk about 12 hours later. In fact, she has had no time for a social life, or a love life.

“I don’t even have time to go to a dermatologist anymore,” she chuckles, pointing to a pimple on her otherwise flawless complexion.

I asked her if she regretted joining PAL because of the baptism of fire she faced and the problems that fell into her slim shoulders.

“Not at all,” she says. “I’ve always wanted to make a difference and joining PAL is a dream come true.”

In times of crisis, she shares, one learns to trust one’s judgment in order to make “solid calls.”

Where does she get her strength?

“From challenges!” is her quick reply. “Without challenges, life is boring.”

On top of her list of pet peeves are “lazy people and backbiters.”

“I think they’re losers,” she declares.

She admires people who reinvent themselves and impact people’s lives because of their talent, like Steve Jobs and Madonna.

She also deeply admires her father for his perseverance and patriotism. The best thing he ever taught her?

“That knowledge is most important. That it is more precious than wealth.”

As she flies across a new horizon with a re-energized PAL, Vivienne has taken her father’s words to heart.

And her sincerity to do good at Philippine Airlines — as a daughter and as a Filipino — is shining through.

(You may e-mail me at [email protected].)