PAL Pilot Exodus
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Why does PAL prefer to hire foreigners intead of the locals? Aren't the pilots in the Gen Av qualified to do the job?
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I just hope the bright boys in PNB see the savings they are actually realizing when they compare the wages expat pilots would want compared to the actual ones they're giving local PAL pilots.
They always complain that pilots are overpaid and always want more money, comparing their wages and workhours to ours. Just goes to show that an MBA doesn't necessarily free one from parochial third-world logic.
They always complain that pilots are overpaid and always want more money, comparing their wages and workhours to ours. Just goes to show that an MBA doesn't necessarily free one from parochial third-world logic.
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@chairwrecker and eatbulaga bring up good points.
We have to look beyond and beneath the reasons why PAL has lost money while other Legacy carriers start to recover. It's not enough to accuse senior management of "cooking the books" para mukhang lugi. Annual financial statements have shown that some years were profitable and some were not.
If you have to do that, then we must at least look at the balance sheets, the cash flow statements and the income statements from the past years and scrutinize the figures. If they are suspicous, then we must question the accuracy and integrity of SGV which annually provides an independent assesment of said statements.
While it is true that the spun-off companies have become profitable, its revenues are peanuts compared to PAL's annual revenue and I don't think their profits alone would make LT happy. Remember that he is an ego-driven businessman who fancies himself as a rags-to-riches story with delusions of grandeur and relevance by acquiring national entities like PAL and PNB and making them profitable. Not being able to turn them around or making them successful wounds his considerable pride.
Transpac flights may be full going to the US but are quite lean coming back. And PAL does get 60% or more of its revenues from international and regional flights. Lesser pax translates to lesser RPK (revenue per kilometer) against a fixed cost-per-kilometer. The real decline of passenger revenue (due to the recession) against relatively higher fixed costs (due to a bad hedging bet for one) has produced lesser yields.
Fact of the matter is PAL's legacy cost structure has been exposed and found wanting against the phenom of the LCC after deregulation of the industry. One tangible quantitative measure is the ratio of employee to aircraft. Leaner legacy carriers have standards of about 115:1, LCCs (like CebuPac) have about 80-90:1. PAL in its current structure has about 180 employees per aircraft.
Most legacy carriers either operate an extensive hub and spoke network or have a significant high-yield pax core (business class pax) that contribute to better profit margins. PAL doesn't have this to lean on. PAL depends on a mix of the OFW, Balikbayan and domestic/regional tourist market which are more akin and vulnerable to LCC operations (except for long-haul). Hence, fighting the LCCs in a price war only leads to lower yields on PAL's profit margins.
Fuel costs have also grown from 30% to now more than 40% of the cost structure. It doesn't help that fuel hedging bets went awry. While folks in finance have been let go (landing a plum job in SM with Ramon Ang and the other promoted to CEO of AirPhil), it's the poor laborers who got the raw end by being retrenched for their bad decisions.
And in legacy carriers throughout the world, be it British Airways, Mexicana or Air France, it's always been labor that has borne the brunt of cost-cutting measures that have had to be implemented because of mismanagement.
Most importantly, their seems to be a lack of vision or strategic thinking (or is this deliberate?) on what they would want PAL to be. Do you continue to challenge everyone with a price war and maintain hegemony over Transpac and regional flights while CebuPAc marches on or do you spin-off all domestic flights and certain regional routes to AirPhil and concentrate on the international/regional mixed market?
And therein the fault lies in the ineffectiveness of ownership and management in carving out a vision for the company, relying instead on reactionary measures and plodding through the years with half-measures.
This is where you can envy CebuPac's Lance Gokongwei who has maintained a vision and tight discipline on what they want to do (spurning his father who wanted to go long-haul, rebutting him that it was not their business model).
Sadly, for the people who were with the company way before LT and his minions, the tragedy goes on.
We have to look beyond and beneath the reasons why PAL has lost money while other Legacy carriers start to recover. It's not enough to accuse senior management of "cooking the books" para mukhang lugi. Annual financial statements have shown that some years were profitable and some were not.
If you have to do that, then we must at least look at the balance sheets, the cash flow statements and the income statements from the past years and scrutinize the figures. If they are suspicous, then we must question the accuracy and integrity of SGV which annually provides an independent assesment of said statements.
While it is true that the spun-off companies have become profitable, its revenues are peanuts compared to PAL's annual revenue and I don't think their profits alone would make LT happy. Remember that he is an ego-driven businessman who fancies himself as a rags-to-riches story with delusions of grandeur and relevance by acquiring national entities like PAL and PNB and making them profitable. Not being able to turn them around or making them successful wounds his considerable pride.
Transpac flights may be full going to the US but are quite lean coming back. And PAL does get 60% or more of its revenues from international and regional flights. Lesser pax translates to lesser RPK (revenue per kilometer) against a fixed cost-per-kilometer. The real decline of passenger revenue (due to the recession) against relatively higher fixed costs (due to a bad hedging bet for one) has produced lesser yields.
Fact of the matter is PAL's legacy cost structure has been exposed and found wanting against the phenom of the LCC after deregulation of the industry. One tangible quantitative measure is the ratio of employee to aircraft. Leaner legacy carriers have standards of about 115:1, LCCs (like CebuPac) have about 80-90:1. PAL in its current structure has about 180 employees per aircraft.
Most legacy carriers either operate an extensive hub and spoke network or have a significant high-yield pax core (business class pax) that contribute to better profit margins. PAL doesn't have this to lean on. PAL depends on a mix of the OFW, Balikbayan and domestic/regional tourist market which are more akin and vulnerable to LCC operations (except for long-haul). Hence, fighting the LCCs in a price war only leads to lower yields on PAL's profit margins.
Fuel costs have also grown from 30% to now more than 40% of the cost structure. It doesn't help that fuel hedging bets went awry. While folks in finance have been let go (landing a plum job in SM with Ramon Ang and the other promoted to CEO of AirPhil), it's the poor laborers who got the raw end by being retrenched for their bad decisions.
And in legacy carriers throughout the world, be it British Airways, Mexicana or Air France, it's always been labor that has borne the brunt of cost-cutting measures that have had to be implemented because of mismanagement.
Most importantly, their seems to be a lack of vision or strategic thinking (or is this deliberate?) on what they would want PAL to be. Do you continue to challenge everyone with a price war and maintain hegemony over Transpac and regional flights while CebuPAc marches on or do you spin-off all domestic flights and certain regional routes to AirPhil and concentrate on the international/regional mixed market?
And therein the fault lies in the ineffectiveness of ownership and management in carving out a vision for the company, relying instead on reactionary measures and plodding through the years with half-measures.
This is where you can envy CebuPac's Lance Gokongwei who has maintained a vision and tight discipline on what they want to do (spurning his father who wanted to go long-haul, rebutting him that it was not their business model).
Sadly, for the people who were with the company way before LT and his minions, the tragedy goes on.
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Fact of the matter is PAL's legacy cost structure has been exposed and found wanting against the phenom of the LCC after deregulation of the industry. One tangible quantitative measure is the ratio of employee to aircraft. Leaner legacy carriers have standards of about 115:1, LCCs (like CebuPac) have about 80-90:1. PAL in its current structure has about 180 employees per aircraft.
The actual number for Cebu Pacific is 77 and closer to 200 for PAL
The actual number for Cebu Pacific is 77 and closer to 200 for PAL
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while i agree in principle, PAL naturally should have a higher aircraft to employee ratio and still remain competitive to 5J because they have several wide body aircraft.
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@ chairwrecker- I too, agree that PAL should have a higher employee:aircraft ratiothan 5J. The thing is, as you stated earlier, we're all confused on where it wants to go and how it wants to market itself.
Does it go all-out vs 5J with AirPhil as its LCC partner and remain an aggressive participant in the domestic/regional market? Does it become a niche player and concentrate on the higher yield/margin routes? Does it want to remain the dominant regional/international carrier from RP (and how?) Do you continue deploy A330s/744/777s to 1-1.5 hr flights or do you leave that to the 320s? Or do you give almost all your 320s/319s to AirPhil (as rumored from LTP mechanics) and just fly the widebodies?
Does it even have a choice in the matter or is it just letting inertia take its course?
That's the beauty of Southwest Airlines philosphy. Besides the wonderful marketing promos of Herb Kelleher and his successors and their brilliant fuel hedging strategies, they have maintained for 30 years that they will never fly sectors longer than 4 hours. Because anything longer, the wide-bodies start to become more efficient.
Does it go all-out vs 5J with AirPhil as its LCC partner and remain an aggressive participant in the domestic/regional market? Does it become a niche player and concentrate on the higher yield/margin routes? Does it want to remain the dominant regional/international carrier from RP (and how?) Do you continue deploy A330s/744/777s to 1-1.5 hr flights or do you leave that to the 320s? Or do you give almost all your 320s/319s to AirPhil (as rumored from LTP mechanics) and just fly the widebodies?
Does it even have a choice in the matter or is it just letting inertia take its course?
That's the beauty of Southwest Airlines philosphy. Besides the wonderful marketing promos of Herb Kelleher and his successors and their brilliant fuel hedging strategies, they have maintained for 30 years that they will never fly sectors longer than 4 hours. Because anything longer, the wide-bodies start to become more efficient.
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Sad news :(
@Bisaya, Is this confirmed that Badiolax(BBB), Kalbo (JA), Song (SC), Koyang(RNL) & Empress Queen (M - {ala Jame Bond}) were terminated by Headquarters because of incompetence for not having prevented the last exodus? 
Gents, how about that PR321 incident by Capt M(?) Gomez in KLO which was in the news yesterday? News from KLO that the airplane hit a tricycle on the landing & damaged the landing gear, damaged the tricycle & injured its driver & passenger then flew back to MNL on emergency - hydraulic failure as claimed by the newspapers. This is very untimely incident for PAL if this is true.
One on-line news even claimed "pilot error" as quoted from CAAP.
Gents, how about that PR321 incident by Capt M(?) Gomez in KLO which was in the news yesterday? News from KLO that the airplane hit a tricycle on the landing & damaged the landing gear, damaged the tricycle & injured its driver & passenger then flew back to MNL on emergency - hydraulic failure as claimed by the newspapers. This is very untimely incident for PAL if this is true.
One on-line news even claimed "pilot error" as quoted from CAAP.
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Confirmed
@CPB, "prevented" is too much of a euphemism. let me say, "CAUSED" to be more accurate.
heads rolled and a few more may follow. just a fair warning to the knuckleheads that remain.
a promise has also been made-- "we will make this the happiest place on earth next to disneyland!"
heads rolled and a few more may follow. just a fair warning to the knuckleheads that remain.
a promise has also been made-- "we will make this the happiest place on earth next to disneyland!"
Last edited by bisaya; 19th Aug 2010 at 09:01.
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a promise has also been made-- "we will make this the happiest place on earth next to disneyland!" 
big step they made by sacking those 5 to somehow regain the quite elusive trust from people awaiting a serious, drastic change. can you confirm this came from the "new" SAVP?!
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From what I hear, the big 3 have been sacked. And I think it's now in black and white. They were probably declared redundant. May have a month's time or even less. LT said to give 'em a fair severance package (what constitutes fair to LT is another matter though)....Buti pa sila, they get a golden parachute for screwing up.
Rumor has it that the daughter-pilot will now be the new SAVP...And it was her husband-pilot who said good things were in coming...we'll see.
The two ground employees are still in limbo whether they'll be sacked or relocated to some other place.
So far, no takers for the VP positions..CP 744 is the most senior mgmt and has signified he doesn't want any of it.
Rumor has it that the daughter-pilot will now be the new SAVP...And it was her husband-pilot who said good things were in coming...we'll see.
The two ground employees are still in limbo whether they'll be sacked or relocated to some other place.
So far, no takers for the VP positions..CP 744 is the most senior mgmt and has signified he doesn't want any of it.
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Capt. papa bear:
A320 crew claims it was severe downdraft that hit them. Tail hit ground probably during go-around (speculative though at this point). It was the go-around thrust setting daw that hit the tricycle daw which overturned it. ...Again all from non-official second-hand sources.
A320 crew claims it was severe downdraft that hit them. Tail hit ground probably during go-around (speculative though at this point). It was the go-around thrust setting daw that hit the tricycle daw which overturned it.
...Again all from non-official second-hand sources.
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what???!!! severance package for screwing the pilots and the airline?
but at least they finally saw the light and got rid of the cancer in PAL. what an irony, Bida was boasting even before he got the svp position. his inflated ego went ballistic. let's see him walk around gate 1 now. but knowing his character, he will still be his arrogant self.
JA? he got it coming. the kingdom that he built with JH is crumbling down.
SC and Queen M acted like they were perched on the back of carabaos. but the carabao is now weak and no use. so, they will also go down.
RNL is neither here or there. no backing from anybody. so, there he goes.
but at least they finally saw the light and got rid of the cancer in PAL. what an irony, Bida was boasting even before he got the svp position. his inflated ego went ballistic. let's see him walk around gate 1 now. but knowing his character, he will still be his arrogant self.
JA? he got it coming. the kingdom that he built with JH is crumbling down.
SC and Queen M acted like they were perched on the back of carabaos. but the carabao is now weak and no use. so, they will also go down.
RNL is neither here or there. no backing from anybody. so, there he goes.
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A Different Version
My neigbor's cousin heard a different version of events from the Lady Guard at the lobby . FCA is being considered for VP flt ops, APC for SVP Ops Group. All recommended by a pilot with just 3 letters in his surname. All tentative since other people are also interested in the positions.
. FCA is being considered for VP flt ops, APC for SVP Ops Group. All recommended by a pilot with just 3 letters in his surname. All tentative since other people are also interested in the positions.
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hmm
all i know is that come october -november Airphil maintenance will be handling all A320 line maintenance of PAL...
I happen to know the Maintenance Manager of Airphil, and the consultant behind it.. it just happens that the consultant was frmo 5J too..
let see what happens
I happen to know the Maintenance Manager of Airphil, and the consultant behind it.. it just happens that the consultant was frmo 5J too..
let see what happens
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Operations Group
I heard VP Flt Ops - Chuck Aquino
SAVP Flt Ops - Butch Generoso
SVP Opns Grp - Joel Dee (not confirmed - LT wants)
Things and names can stilll change though.
SAVP Flt Ops - Butch Generoso
SVP Opns Grp - Joel Dee (not confirmed - LT wants)
Things and names can stilll change though.
