PAL dismisses 150 flight attendants by Jan. 15

Halts lease of 3 standby aircraft

The national flag carrier, Philippine Airlines (PAL) had decided to let go of its 150 probationary cabin attendants and discontinue the lease of three Boeing 747-200 standby aircraft.

Avelino Zapanta, PAL president and COO said the flight attendants will be terminated by groups and the last group will be laid off on Jan. 15 while the three aircraft will be given back to the lessor by Jan. 6.

With the return of three aircraft, the company had to stop availing the services of 36 pilots from Aero Pilipinas who man the standby aircraft.

“They are not PAL pilots. In order for us to be able to save on cost and maintenance, we decided to temporarily stop the lease of the aircraft,’’ Zapanta said.

Zapanta said the aircraft were being used as alternates whenever there are “disruptions’’, adding “however, disruptions are not often. PAL has 85 percent on time performance and 15 percent delays. The company has a 98.7 percent schedule reliability and a rate of cancellations of only 1.3 percent.’’

Zapanta said that the company told the 150 cabin attendants that “we are not confirming your positions. This is not a retrenchment. They were hired three to four months prior to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. They were on probation. We trained them, hired them.’’

The probationary cabin attendants account for roughly two percent of PAL’s workforce estimated at 7,200.

With regards to expansion, Zapanta said that the company is not pushing through with the expansion. “When we get out of difficulty, when the industry turns around and recovers, we will consider them.’’

Earlier, Zapanta said PAL may end up in the red for the fiscal year April 2001 to March 2002, after its five-month profits were wiped out by the losses during the month of September.

He said the losses in September were more than three times what the management expected at R684 million, owing partly to the terrorist attacks in the United States.

Traditionally a lean month, PAL budgeted a R202 million net loss for September. Thus, PAL’s five-month income of R506 million in profits was wiped out, and the airline company ended April to September with R178 million or $3.4 million in net losses, Zapanta said. (Lynda B. Valencia, PNA)