Jeremiah F. de Guzman
Manila Standard Today
ITS parent Philippine Airlines is dogged by labor and financial problems, but Airphil Express, businessman Lucio Tan’s budget carrier, announced over the weekend that it is opening up new domestic routes.
The airline said its new Airbus A320 started serving the Manila-Zamboanga and Cebu-Davao routes on Oct. 1, and both were daily flights with fares starting at P2,078 and P1,088, respectively.
“These new routes are the latest in our expansion plans to refocus our operations on our hubs in Cebu, Davao and Zamboanga in order to support local trade demand,” vice president for marketing Maria Java said.
Airphil recently increased its flights to Singapore to seven times a week from thrice weekly. The airline is set to operate from Singapore’s Changi Airport’s Budget Terminal 4 this month.
“The growing demand for low-cost air travel to exciting destinations such as Singapore is the main factor in our decision to fly the Singapore-Manila route as our first regional offering,” Java said.
Meanwhile, Philippine Airlines, which faces a strike from its cabin crew, denied that its flight attendants were underpaid and insisted that they were receiving the best benefits and were the envy of other workers.
“[The Flight Attendants’ and Stewards’ Association of the Philippines] claims that their basic pay is below the government-set minimum wage, but this is just a portion of their salary.
The truth is they receive much, much more,” PAL spokeswoman Cielo Villaluna said in a statement over the weekend.
She said the union had not been up-front in informing the public of the real salaries and benefits that PAL’s cabin crew were receiving.
The actual gross monthly pay of a PAL cabin crew ranged from P33,000 to P75,000 inclusive of productivity pay and other allowances, Villaluna said.
“[This is] no small amount by Philippine standards,” she said.
“An international cabin attendant receives P50,741 to P60,136, while a flight purser gets P67,880 to P73,570.
“Instead of alarming our passengers with threats of strike, [the cabin crew] should at least disclose the exchange of proposals and counter-offers to show who was taking a hardline position during the conciliation meetings.”
Sought for comment, the union said the main issue was not salaries but gender discrimination.
The union opposes the lower retirement age of 40 for stewardesses and has vowed to strike at the end of October or on the first week of November.
The Labor Department has said it will assume jurisdiction and declare the strike illegal if both sides fail to reach an agreement.
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