More PAL pilots reportedly planning to quit

MANILA, Philippines—Despite government intervention and management assurance of job security, many more Philippine Airlines (PAL) pilots are preparing to resign in the coming weeks, threatening to once again cripple the flag carrier’s operations.

A senior member of the airline’s Airbus A320 division, who asked not to be named since he still works for the company, said PAL pilots had lost faith in PAL management.

“Last week, [PAL president Jaime] Bautista met with all of us and he promised that none of us would be moved to Air Philippines anymore,” the pilot said.

“We don’t believe them anymore. That’s what they told us a month ago before transferring our colleagues to Air Philippines,” he said.

Twenty-six Airbus A320 pilots have left PAL for higher-paying jobs abroad, forcing the airline to reduce the number of flights to avoid unannounced cancellations.

The pilots left the airline abruptly, filing their resignations one day and leaving the next, giving PAL little time to train replacements.

The pilots were reportedly scared of losing job security after some of their colleagues were moved to sister company Air Philippines and given lower salaries. Salaries abroad, meanwhile, are at least double what they get at PAL.

The pilots, PAL said, violated their contracts by not giving PAL the 180-day notice needed for pilots, who are classified as doing “mission critical” skills.

PAL has pledged not to move any more of its pilots to Air Philippines, but the management has said it plans to file criminal and administrative charges against the delinquent pilots.

Ready to resign

Just last week, 11 A320 pilots went on sick leave at the same time to fly to Hong Kong and take flight-simulator tests for a new airline there.

Several more have already passed the same tests for other airlines and are just waiting for the right time to submit their resignations.

“PAL management stands by its statement that there will be no more transfers. We are hoping that this will assuage our current roster of pilots that they will not be transferred,” said PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna.

“We really need our current crop of pilots. They are just enough to man our fleet,” Villaluna said, reacting to the pilot’s statements.

However, the pilot said even without resignations, PAL seemed to be flying into another storm.

Most PAL pilots already fly the maximum 100 hours a month set by the law, he said. This means that by October, about 70 percent of PAL’s pilots would have already flown their maximum 1,000 hours a year—a limit also set by law. –Paolo Montecillo, Philippine Daily Inquirer