Live in the Philippines

Live in the Philippines helps expats with visas, moving and other services regarding the Philippines.

Pilots are flying

Travel / by

As the title of this article says, pilots are flying.  And, what I am saying is that Pilots for Philippine Airlines (PAL) are flying.

Well, Bob, of course the PAL pilots are flying… that is what pilots are supposed to do, fly planes!

Well, yes, pilots are literally supposed to fly airplanes, but I never said that PAL’s pilots are flying planes.  I said they are flying.  What I meant is that PAL’s pilots are flying out the front door!  You see, a lot of pilots for PAL are quitting their jobs, and leaving PAL’s flights stranded on the ground.

Just in the past few days, pilots for Philippine Airlines, particularly pilots of Airbus A320 planes have been leaving PAL in droves.  Why are they leaving?

Well, according to a PAL spokesman whom I saw interviewed on the TV news here, foreigner airlines are coming and hiring Filipino Pilots, snatching them right from PAL.  According to the report I saw, the airlines that are grabbing PAL pilots are mainly airlines from the Middle East, although others are too.

The situation got so serious over the weekend that on Saturday, PAL completely canceled four flights – 3 Domestic flights, and one Regional International Flight.  The PAL spokesman assured passengers during his TV interview that there was no need for concern, because the Sunday flights would use larger planes in order to accommodate the passengers who could not fly on Saturday.  Problem is that the situation got worse on Sunday when eight flights!  Not only were four flights canceled on Saturday, but another 23 PAL Saturday flights were affected in other ways due to the lack of pilots.

PAL issued a statement on Saturday stating that the cause of the loss of Pilots was due to the foreign airlines coming in and offering larger salaries to pilots, salaries which PAL simply could not match.  In fact, most of the pilots who have left PAL employment in the past week have been given jobs with more than double the salary that they had been paid by PAL.

PAL issued a statement about the issue, which was carried in the Philippine Daily Inquirer:

On Saturday, at least 23 flights were disrupted after a number of the company’s pilots abandoned their aircraft to find better paying jobs overseas. The company management had said it was looking into holding these pilots accountable for their action.

Hold them accountable for their actions?  How?  I mean, the Philippines is a free country, nobody is forced to stay at a job, at least not as far as I know.  If I were a pilot and some airline from Qatar or Saudi offered me twice my salary to go fly for them, I’d be out the door too.  How can they be “held accountable” by PAL?

PAL does say that there is a law that the Pilots must give six months notice if they are going to quit.  However, so far, I have seen no confirmation of such a law, and I am aware of no such law.  I think it is a matter of common courtesy that an employee give a minimum of two weeks notice if they intend to quit their job, but as far as I know, no law mandates such a notice.  Six months notice, to me, would be way too long.  It would seem to me that PAL should have enough pilots to be able to avoid these kinds of problems.  So far, though, I have not heard a number on just how many pilots have resigned from their jobs, so perhaps the number is so large that it has put PAL in a tight spot, despite their contingency plans.  I don’t know for sure on that.

President Aquino has stepped in and advised PAL that they need to step up and act responsibly to put any labor issues aside so that adequate staff can keep the airline in the air.  PAL has responded by saying that there are no labor issues.  It does make me wonder, though, why so many pilots are leaving suddenly, that does not seem natural.  I saw one report saying that many pilots are not actually quitting, but being fired.  That does not sound correct to me, but I did read it in one of the local newspapers, though.

It will be interesting to see what happens this week, because President Aquino has instructed the DOTC (Dept of Transportation and Communications) to take action and investigate what is going on with PAL.  It will be interesting to see what they find.

So, for any of you who plan to be visiting the Philippines, if you have flights on Philippine Airlines, be they Domestic or International flights, be sure to make plans, because there is a possibility that your flight will be grounded, unless some action happens quickly.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Hey Bob,
    If it’s true that other airlines are offering a higher salery to their piolts, then PAL has nobody to blame but themselves. PAL needs to be competetive with their salerys. As a paying customer, I know their are cheaper airlines to fly than PAL. I would assume that maintenance costs and operating costs are also pretty much the same also.

    Another question that needs to be asked is; Is their a world wide shortage of piolts right now?

    • I agree, hudson. If other airlines are able to afford to pay pilots more, then PAL must have that money available too, because PAL is by no means the cheapest airline out there. PAL must be operated inefficiently if they can’t come up with enough money to keep pilots from quitting.

  3. Good article Bob.Those pilots have chosen to become citizens of the world.Their skill is in demand and is being better compensated elsewhere.I believe, going forward,this will become a very common practice here in the U.S. and Europe.Those with capital and or skills will no longer accept being serfs and will leave their highly taxed and over regulated homelands for better opportunities somewhere else.

  4. Hi Bob, I read that there was a rumour about all the employees being replaced. Usually when there is a mass exodus there is more than just one reason, but then money can be a great motivator when you need it.

    • Hi Richard – Yes, as I did point out in the article, I also read in one place that PAL is actually firing these people, which to me would mean that they have some plan to replace them. Yet, PAL says that they don’t have anybody in training or anything for these pilot jobs, and training takes a long time. Hmm… something is not adding up! 😀

  5. At the end of 2008, IIRC, the Philippine Senate considered a proposal that would make it illegal for pilot’s trained in the Philippines to leave the country without official permission. (funny that they would consider the effects of the “brain drain” caused by the OFW economy on airline pilots only … I mean losing a trained pilot is a lot less serious, education-wise, than losing a doctor, nurse, school teacher, etc., but I digress.

    The proposed legislation never got out of committee, again IIRC.

    PAL, like many non-US airlines operates what we call in the trade an ab initio (from the beginning) program where young men and women are taken in with no flight experience at all and trained totally at PAL’s expense. In return, they sign a contract to work for PAL for a certain period of time.

    It was alleged that some of the pilots who left were still under such an agreement … and, if so, it seems they are morally and legally obligated to stay … but these “lock-in” contracts are common all ’round the world, and in a practical sense, are nearly unenforceable.

    You can you realistically compel a person to work for you, especially in a job where you have to give then freedom of movement and also confer ultimate trust with people’s lives and millions of dollars in assets. It’s kind of like the insane marriage situation in the Philippines where the law expects that making divorce illegal will kepe families together … you can’t really compel a marriage.

    PAL has been notorious for some time for low pay and lackluster employment conditions … many mid-east carriers like Emirates have compensation packages that far exceed even US airline benefits, so one can hardly blame skilled personnel for voting with their feet.

    But to leave with no notice like that? Unconscionable. It smacks of pettiness, leaves innocent passengers in the lurch when the object appears to be the embarrassment of PAL management, and it culd very well backfire for future employment … if I were thinking of hiring one of these guys/gals, I’d think twice when I saw how they treated PAL.

    But all in all, a good illustration of how life here is one continual tele sere (soap opera). May Bukas Pa 😉

    • Hi Dave – Good morning! I agree with everything you said, and you are certainly more of an expert on airline issues than I am. The only thing I would like to add is regarding the issue of giving notice when quitting. I feel that we don’t know for sure if notice was given or not. PAL says no notice was given, but we did not hear what the pilots would say. The way PAL operates, I would not put it past them that notice was given, but simply ignored by PAL, thinking “oh it won’t happen” or the typical way that many here just don’t want to face up to a difficult situation.

  6. Where do I send my application Bob???
    There has been a pilot shortgage worldwide for a few years now, I have heard of the Middle East engaging in this kind of tactics before. The Airbus is a very desirable/marketable rating to have as a pilot ( in USA if a plane is weighs over 12,000# a type rating must be earned by the pilot). My concern is how PAL will replace these pilots , one of the problems I see is the lack of mid-sized jets PAL & CP have, there are very few ‘step’ up aircrafts on the line for pilots to move up in. A Saab turbo-prop is a relativley easy plane to fly…moving a pilot from that to an Airbus is a big step to digest in one jump one which I as a commercial rated pilot would hesitate to do. The avionics i.e. navigation,autopilot interface, FD ect… can take weeks of intensive training alone. Keep us poted on this Bob for safety concerns.

    • I agree Brian that this is a big safety issue. I hope PAL does not try to rush people into the jobs that are not ready. If they do that, the Philippines could be facing disaster down the road. When I get new info on this, I will post updates.

  7. Hi Bob;
    If any corporation in today’s world, who’s only goal is to maximise profits, at the expense of their employees, expects to garner sympathy from me, is (expletive’s deleted) out of luck.
    If PAL was laying them off, or hiring people who would work for less, would the government be so concerned? They reap what they sow.

    • Hi Paul – I hate to raise your blood pressure like this on a Monday Morning! 😉 Not a good start for the week! 😆

      Just kidding, my friend. Indeed, I personally don’t give much (any) sympathy to PAL either. Over the years I have heard tales of how they treat their employees and the low pay that they give. Like you said… they reap what they sow!

  8. Dave , its common to have pilot contacts in the aviation business for the simple fact that it can cost well over $25,000 USD JUST to send a pilot thru Simcom Training on a mid-sized jet. $75K is not uncommon for the heavies. BUT…contracts for pilots are usually limited to the Charter operations (part 135 ops) , the rational is if you train a pilot and have to invest x amount just to get him in the left seat then the pilot is usually contractually obligated for a term so that the employer can recoup the investment and make money as well, for most employers know that after a few years of experince that pilot is off to greener pastures. This as I say is common in the charter ops…but…things change when you get to schedualed aircarrier ops , at this point pilots have 1,000 ‘s of hours and years of experince, now the ball shifts into their court…they are the commodity now and know it…endentured servitude via contracts at this level does noting to instill loyalty from your employee.

  12. Hi Bob – We shall see. I agree with you that the pilots are simply bringing their skills to somebody who is willing to pay more for them. It’s the open market of supply and demand.

  13. This is from a Professional Pilot site. Below was written by one of the PAL Pilots:

    Today, a lot of PAL flights were cancelled, both domestic and regional flights were affected. The reason given, NO AVAILABLE CREW TO FLY THE PLANES!

    Real score why pilots are leaving.

    Last October 2009, the service contracts of 4 Captains (who are above 60 years old), namely De Dios, De la Cruz, Guttierez and Roma were terminated. The reason given was redundancy. 2 of these pilots were due to end their contracts, one in about 3 months time, and the other in about 6 months.

    This event had the young pilots thinking, if this could be done to the old guys, it could easily be done to them as well ( 2 in the group who were terminated were returnees for the company during the strike). Because of this, as early as November last year, there were already some guys who applied for jobs somewhere else.

    Then come February this year, 11 senior Captains and 7 of the most junior First Officers were given the same treatment. Again the reason was redundancy, when at that time, the average flying time was around 90 hours. The real reason was, they were going to open a Low Cost Carrier at Airphil, using the A320s, to counter the surging dominance of Cebu Pacific in the domestic as well as regional routes. Passenger market share was already 60% for Cebu Pac and 40% for PAL.

    So, by late March this year, two of the A320 from the PAL fleet were transferred to Airphil together with the 11 elder captains plus 7 young first officers. Thrown to the other side of the fence to fly the planes, with compensation around half of what they used to get. Maybe PAL management’s reasoning was, “… wala namang mapupuntahan ang mga iyan!”(“…those guys don’t have anywhere else to go to!”)

    Info leaked out that planes and pilots will be transferred from PAL to Airphil. It was announced during the Inaugural flight that 20 A320s is the initial target. In fact, there will be 4 brand new planes to be delivered between September to November, then another set next year.

    This got the pilots thinking, where will they get the pilots to fly them?
    The obvious answer was, from PAL. So the info was for real!

    Knowing fully well what the working conditions and compensation are waiting for them at the other side of the fence, the A320 people started to explore other options before they got hit.

    Although the compensation outside is may be bigger, the present pay scale may seem to be substantial, what with all the incentives that were packaged because of the last exodus. The real reason for this exodus is, the pilots (who have not union nor collective bargaining agreement to protect themselves), cannot take the “pambrabraso” (strong arm tactics) anymore. If they don’t have security of tenure at PAL, then it would be a lot better to work elsewhere with the same unsecured job but with maybe better compensation.

    Now, press releases from the company are again out to discredit the pilot group. Supposedly pilots are leaving and violating their contracts because of higher pay elsewhere. The veracity of PAL’s claims is not accompanied by factual evidence and as it is intended, mask the true goings-on in the company and manipulate public opinion.

    This is the score.

    • Hello House – Thank you very much for your very, very interesting report. Based on your e-mail address, which I will not reveal, it seems that you are an insider, who knows what he is talking about. I appreciate your information, it is very revealing.

      BTW, for those readers who don’t know, Air Philippines is a subsidiary of PAL, so what House is saying makes sense, doesn’t it?

  15. PAL’s problems are of their own making. We stopped using PAL a couple of years ago. I got tired of paying MORE susstantially more to fly PAL, and still having to put up with rotten policies and customer service attitudes expressed from PAL upper management. We had to sit and wait for 10 hours at the manila airport waiting to board PAL’s US flight. I had enough mabuhay miles to go into the mostly empty Mabuhay lounge area. My wife did not. I even offered to PAY for her to be able to enter. No way No How, wouldn’t even call management as I had requested.
    Kathay Pacific and Cebu Pacific got my money after that. I can get on the same size plane, same service etc here from Dipolog to Manila, and save a lot of pesos. The arrogance of Lucio, and his upper management never ceases to amaze me. The flagship is sinking, mainly because the officers are cutting holes in the Hull!

    • Hi Dave – I have heard so many stories about PAL similar to yours. Problem is, though, I hear the same things about Cebu Pacific and other Philippine carriers as well, so it’s hard to know what to do for domestic flights. I will say, I have flown nearly all the carriers, and I really don’t have any such horror stories. Knock on wood! 😆

  16. Looks like House beat me to the punch.

    Clearly, there are 2 sides to the story & PAL is going all out in trying to win that battle.

    I’m no insider, but tend to be suspicious of Philippine management tactics vs. their employees. Based on accounts i’ve read, the pilots had their backs against the wall & needed to bail or else they’d be screwed by the in-house chess game.

    Here is a piece by one of the resigned PAL captains (reposted by a friend of mine):
    http://www.facebook.com/notes/kay-bunagan/the-real-score-about-pal-from-one-of-its-captains-who-resigned/425828937187

    And if you’re interested in following this fiasco, here’s an online forum where pilots discuss the PAL exodus:
    http://www.pprune.org/south-asia-far-east/210921-pal-pilot-exodus-53.html

    • Hi macky – Thanks for sharing those links, I will certainly be checking them out. Like you, my feelings go toward the captains on this one. I have heard so many horror stories of how PAL treats it’s employees in the past. It just makes me tend to believe the pilots on this one.

      • I was reading thru the links. They were talking about applying to KAL. Seems you have to post a $30,000 usd training bond [ i assume to ensure that after they spend all the money and time training you that you actually fulfill your contract]. Since pilots in the Phil probably cant come up with $30,000 as a bond maybe the threat of criminal charges is just the filipino version of a bond !! lol

  17. I read this post:
    No less than President Benigno Aquino III has said these pilots could be charged for allegedly breaching their contracts.

    “There has been disruption to our tourism efforts and to other aspects of the economy…. If this [pilots’ not reporting for duty] is not warranted, they lay themselves open with appropriate charges,” Aquino said at a press briefing Sunday
    Now where I practised law you had a choice- sue the person for monetary damages, or charge them with a crime, [ or sometimes both]. But you couldnt charge someone with anything unless they had actually committed a criminal offense. In north america not honoring a contract is NOT a criminal offense . I find it hard to believe that it is in the Philippines. But then I know that it seems much more common here for persons to file criminal cases , whereas in north america such cases are filed by the government/crown
    If the pilots contracts can be enforced thru the use of criminal sanctions that in effect is a form of economic slavery ie work as contracted or go to prison. In north america employment contracts can not lead to forced work- only to damages[money]

    • Hi ian – It’s going to be interesting to watch and see how things develop on this. I suppose this could be the first big test for P-Noy. If he goes too far on the company side, though, I suspect that a lot of Filipinos are going to lose a bit of respect for him. We shall see.

  18. Hi Bob
    To Dave Star who is comparing pilots to nurses or school teachers, I don’t see President Aquino getting as upset with nurses or school teachers leaving as compared to pilots so I’m assuming correctly that the President sees a much greater value that a pilot brings to the economy. There are thousands and thousands of nurses and teachers but not so with pilots. That type of thinking has damaged the U.S. economy I hope it does not happen in the Philippines.
    PAL can’t compete with Cebu Pacific price because as far as I know they have legacy costs which Cebu Pacific does not have at this point. It can’t compete with the salary that some foreign airlines offer especially those from the Persian Gulf, but I did find surprising that Vietnam pays more. This will be a continual problem for all Philippine airlines that have domestic routes, International routes are much more profitable.

    • Hi neil – Interesting info… especially about Vietnam. I also did not realize they were paying more than Philippine Airlines… although I am not surprised.

    • Neil – I also took exception to Dave Starr’s post- the first time i read it. When I read his post more carefully i saw that Dave was very specific in his post: Dave said:
      I mean losing a trained pilot is a lot less serious, education-wise, than losing a doctor, nurse, school teacher, etc., but I digress.
      Dave limited his comment to the matter of only education-wise . Which is a much different thing. What the whole flap is about of course is money , and when you want to compare the effects money wise to education wise there is never any comparison in todays world. lol

  19. Bob: If I remember correctly, commercial pilot is one of the “protected” jobs in the Philippines, not open to foreigners. I also remember reading somewhere the Filipino pilots were restricted by the POEA in obtaining exit clearances to work abroad.

    Not that a foreigner would find the wages attractive, but it wasn’t so long ago, when fuel prices were high, that there was a brief glut of pilots due to many airlines going under.

    Also, interesting to note, that the days of extremely high compensation for pilots in the States are drawing to a close. New hires typically are paid pretty miserable wages when they start at a commuter airline… Especially given the amount of training and experience required

    • Hi John – I am not sure that commercial pilots are one of the protected jobs here. I seem to recall seeing something on the news or somewhere about some foreign pilots who work for PAL. I could be mistaken, though. I would think that right now, if it is a protected job, that the Philippine Government might want to reconsider. I do believe that there are some foreigners who would consider doing the work, just as a way of being able to live here.

      • Last year, the tourism secretary was flying to Legaspi where they had a slight incident before landing. The newspaper referred to the pilot, as the French pilot.

        Alex

  20. Oh great, just when I was about to buy some PAL tickets up to Manila. Maybe I’ll try Cebu Pacific and see how they are. Any other good airlines that fly up to Manila?

    I better leave 2 days before in case there’s a canceled flight.

    • Hi Kevin – I guess it comes down to PAL, Air Philippines or Cebu Pacific. There are a couple other small players, but those are the bigger ones.

  21. this is nothing new. Just the first time PAL has had to cancel so many flights because of the lack of pilots. The airlines are not the only industry that has had to suffer for the ‘brain drain’ here.

  22. PAL’s spokesman said: The indiscriminate resignation of PAL’s A320 pilots for flying jobs abroad whose salaries PAL is unable to match, is in violation of their contracts with PAL as well pertinent government regulations that require resigning pilots to give PAL six months prior notice to be able to train their replacements,” the statement read.
    The possibility of charges being laid must be something set out in such ” government regulations” I have tried reading the contents of the CAAP directives but cant find them. But CAAP director general Alfonso Cusi said he has ordered the agency’s legal department to look into the employment contracts of the pilots who resigned- which is where I presume any charges would come from. [ Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines]

    • Hi ian – If this thing goes to court, I am going to be very surprised. I personally think that PAL is blowing smoke on this. I am betting those pilots don’t even have contracts. We will have to wait to see what happens.

  23. I think if it’s all a question of salaries, then it’s simply a question of supply and demand. But this sounds as if there is a much more sinister game being played, and my wager would be that it is being played by the company, orchestrated, very possibly, by the government. Time will tell, I suppose. Such games are very much more difficult to keep secret now than they were twenty years ago.

  24. Well bob ,i cant see why you cant leave a job to get another that pays better ,one other reader says it all that pal needs to be competetive in there salary for pilots or whenforeighn countries have a shortage of a specialist pilot type then this will happen again. Some time ago we had a national pilots strike here in aus ,unfortunately there were a lot of pilots who did lose there jobs and did end up having to go overseas to continue there carers sounds like they have all retired now and these middle eastern countries are in short supply of well trained pilots ,one thing that i wonder is will these pilots stay overseas for good and what will happen if they decide that they wish to come back will pal or any other airline in the phillipines give them a job , i can also see why the airline would be a bit pissed off same as the arned forces it takes a lot of money and ime to get a pilot to a high standard and like in the services private airlines poach them becase of there training so what do you do ?
    chris

    • Hi chris – Maybe we can get some of those fired Aussie pilots to fly from Davao to Manila! 😆 PAL claims that there is no way they can compete on those salaries, so it seems to be a catch 22 situation.

  25. Anyone have an idea of how we can determine if PAL (or Cebu Pacific for that matter), “solves” the problem by using poorly trained/inexperienced pilots. As I remember, the EU already has banned PAL due to maintenance/safety issues and in 2008 the US demoted PAL to Category 2 status – again over safety. Advice, please?

    • Hi Don – I think that there are two things we can keep an eye on. Firstly, the news. I am pretty sure that if safety is an issue due to this pilot problem, we will hear about it on the news. Either Philippine news or International news will pick up on it. If the US or European officials pick up on this as they did with earlier issues, it will surely make the news. Another place we can and should watch is on the site that Macky sent a link to, a site where Pilots talk about such issues, rumors and such. I think that could be a valuable resource.

  26. Hey Bob,

    Nice article and one I would like to really know what is going on and why these pilots are really quitting. I wouldn’t see any reason why they couldn’t be more competitive with there salaries either, as are other airlines..but then again, salaries in the Philippines are much lower.
    I used PAL when I took my trip to the Philippines in April/June of this year, the flights over were great and every thing on time, the service on the flights were great as well. Actually thought they did a better job than United Air did..for my short flight from Orlando to Los Angeles.
    Making my way back to the USA, my flight from Manila to Los Angeles was delayed 2 hours, so it made it difficult when I finally did make it back to LA, and catch my flight to Orlando..but it all turned out ok.
    Well in these times, I just hope PAL works out all there problems, and is able to do good by there employees, of course I only used them once so far, I thought there employees did a great job, and that goes for in LA, Manila, and Cebu City…very courteous and helpful..each and everyone I came in contact with.

    Thanks Bob,
    Danny 🙂

    • Hi Danny – In the region, for all jobs overall, the Philippines has the highest salaries compared to our neighbors. But, when it comes to pilots the salaries are low. Somebody pointed out that Vietnam pays pilots more than the Philippines does.

    • Hi Danny—I see you had good experience with PAL also. I have flown on Continental, NWA, Delta, Pal, and china air to get to the Philippines. PAL was by far the best of them all. I hope they work this problem out. I found most of their planes in good shape on the inside. All employees are very nice and helpful. More then I can say for the other airlines. I have been to the Philippines 8 times in 6 years and and 4 times was with PAL. The only reason I used the others was because I couldn’t get the flight I wanted with PAL. I am concerned also with this problem they are having with the pilots. I am coming there in September and I might not use them this time. I am wondering if they will replace the pilots with lesser experienced ones.

      Art

  27. I am not the expert on knowing how much profit PAL really makes, but I know their service is unbeatable. I have flown a lot of different carriers and PAL is at the top for service. I also know they are very cheap to fly. I can fly from Manila to Davao, round trip, for $78. Now lets pay the pilots twice their salary is now. Do you think PAL could be this cheap? In the end the locals would have to pay more money to fly on their domestic and international flights. I am not saying PAL treats their employees fair or unfair. I don’t have that knowledge to make any statement about it. I also fly PAL from the United States to the Philippines. I am hoping they do make good profit, so maybe they will be an airlines that we can trust to keep up the maintenance on all air crafts they use. Just my opinion.

    Art

    • Hi Art – I have also flown PAL many times, and have generally been happy with their service. I have a had a couple of glitches with them, but nothing too bad, IMHO. But, other airlines are even cheaper than PAL (Cebu Pacific for example) yet we don’t hear grumbling from the employees.

      Like you, I am not an expert on PAL’s profits or labor conditions, I just hope that they can overcome their current labor problems for the benefit of the company and the labor pool.

  28. Hi Bob,
    I know little about the workings of Airlines,but internationally their prices are similar to most other airlines,i assume their profit margin is also similar,so i am sure they are capable of paying competative rates for pilots.
    No doubt all the facts will eventually surface.
    regards,Chas.

  29. This is has been an on going problem for PAL for the last 10 years since the Asian crisis. A local businessman I had a chat on this, agrees with me that PAL is very “traditional” in its approach. Not competitive enough, not agreesive enough in the marketplace. It is slow to adapt to market conditions. In the case of the pilots, well, if PAL wants to keep them, they’ll just have to do what it takes to keep its business viable isn’t it? Pres. Aquino is no business or airline expert, but hopefully he can run a government. He should look at the whole industry not just one airline company if he wants to improve the industry, e.g. getting the country out of the category 2 status.

  30. The thing I see coming up quite often when I read Philippine news reports etc about this matter is the Marcos involvement in the history of PAL- and Marcos’ association with Mr Tan. I dont pretend to understand the meaning of such references

    • Hi ian – Me too! I have read references to the Marcos involvement and such, but they don’t elaborate what they are talking about. I find it frustrating!

  31. Bob:

    A perspective from someone who has logged over 6 million flight miles over the last ten years (And that has now dropped to manageable levels, thankfully):

    As often as I fly, PAL is normally near the last choice: regardless of fare. I still take them sometimes because of the number of nonstops from Manila. To be fair, I still think that they are better than just about every US airline in terms of service in the air (NOT on the ground), and I simply do not have the same love affair with Emirates, Etihad, et al in the Middle East that some people have. There have been many times on American or Delta or United where some ancient, bitter old union hag flight attendant has barked at passengers or shown a pissy attitude. I see these things and just think “the golden age of air travel is long gone”. I really used to enjoy flying.

    This appears to be a typical wage spat… And, unless they can replace the pilots (probably at higher wages anyway unless the jobs are reserved), they will need to cave. Unless it impacts the bottom line, though, PAL won’t budge. This has all started due to low fares. People say they want good service, but they are normally not willing to pay for it. Hence, in the States, things like meals are a thing of the past. Want a ticket $10 cheaper, then forget about the meal.

    Now, all this doesn’t bother me so much: You get what you pay for, and with an airline, I just want to get where I’m going. What bothers me is when airlines disrupt passengers over stupidity (and, likewise, employees delay me for the same. This is why I no longer will fly British Airways. At one time, they were one of the best. Now…. The crews are paid some of the highest wages in the world, and their tantrum inconvenienced me extensively, as their tantrum a few years ago did when catering went on strike. I don’t care about a free soda on a 1 hour flight to Hamburg!).

    SQ, Cathay, ANA, KAL, and Asiana really have set the standards as far as airline service. These are all (except CX) heavily government subsidized also, so they have distinct advantages.

    I’ve often had problems with PAL: Some out of their control, and some just due to the same old problems related to employees. They share the same problems in business that many other Filipino companies have: Lack of empowerment of employees to solve problems. What you end up with, therefore is service that is fine if everything runs OK. If there are problems, then no-one knows what to do or even cares about what to do.

    • Hi John – When comes to quality service for customers, your last paragraph wraps it all up for almost all Philippine businesses… employees are not empowered to make the customer happy. That’s the bottom line!

  32. ‘They share the same problems in business that many other Filipino companies have: Lack of empowerment of employees to solve problems. What you end up with, therefore is service that is fine if everything runs OK. If there are problems, then no-one knows what to do or even cares about what to do.”

    John, what you wrote should be required reading by every CEO and college business professor in The Philippines.Usually, if a problem or dispute arises the employees disappear and run for cover.If anybody doubts this, try asking any sales associate at Shoemart anything other than the price of something.

  33. hi, im a bit disappointed that a lot of people make assumptions and they don’t know what they’re talking about. I am a professional pilot myself and id like to give briefing about this issue “pilots leaving”. There is only one basic answer to this question, which is: to seek a better opportunity, is there a need to explain why? Like everyone else, due to the economic instability and the high cost of living in the philippines, no matter how much pilots get paid, even a domestic pilot, earning a bit more than 100k monthly, isn’t enough to support a family. Perhaps, this should be taken considerably by the President of the Philippines, having authority and power to bring down the cost and price of basic commodities, to obviate poverty. It all boils down to basic indisputable issues and concern which apply to everybody. And with regard to pilots who acquired their licenses and gained thousands of flight time hours and have earned their competency and skills to join airline companies, every company has its own policies and pilots sign contracts for certain time like 3 years or so, in which minatory and compulsory for pilots to stay, cos Airline companies pay 2 Million for each pilot, just for initial pilot’s training for aircraft type-rating and every 6 months of recurrency training for each pilot, we can just see here, how much money is being spent for each pilot’s training and somehow airline companies need to get this back. Any employer wouldn’t want any employee leaving the company after spending millions for their training alone. But, somehow the fact that forex rates make a big difference and securing much better benefits from other airline companies abroad is every pilot’s flight plan, Filipino pilots are exceptionally skilled like any pilots in the entire world. Securing safety and comfort to passengers and prompt flight service, we pilots deserve only the best compensation package that should be given to us, for long duty hours, that we truly work so hard for. And it is quite unfortunate if the company is in trouble and has to let go and retrench people including pilots, the only thing that’s left infront of our face is a minimal separation pay. It is unlikely, for these pilots to get their feet flying off the ground that even they are flying the B747 cos pilots can only fly aircraft they have specific type- rating on, not unless they get hired from other airlines to fly the same aircraft. Being is a pilot is not easy it requires a long process to get hired by another company and need to pass all the requirements, ground school and flight tests. It is not like any typical job hunter getting interviewed and start the job once hired. I have read the comment on making it illegal for pilots to leave the philippines, yet only “pilot license” is recognized in any part of the world, wherein we don’t need to take jurisdiction into effect to forbid our pilot licenses to fly. It is also sad that no matter how we risk our lives in every flight, yet we get ridiculed by others.