The Manila Times
April 2, 2011
Darwin G. Amojelar
PHILIPPINE Airlines Employees Association (Palea) on Friday said it was “all systems” for its first nationwide strike in 13 years.
In a statement, Palea said a nationwide strike would push through any day after today.
“Palea is 100-percent ready for a strike that will paralyze the operations of PAL that in cahoots with the Aquino government wants to deny workers the right to regular jobs and a collective bargaining agreement [CBA]. The only thing that can prevent a strike is for PAL to heed the demand to stop outsourcing and open CBA negotiations without preconditions,” Gerry Rivera, Palea president said.
Palea filed a notice of strike on March 7 and on March 25 a strike vote revealed that 95.44 percent of the employees were supported the planned strike.
After a seven-day “strike ban” period, Palea expects a strike on April 2.
“PAL will earn $1.6 billion in profit this year. Yet it refuses to share the fruits of production with its employees via a CBA. PAL’s workers have already sacrificed with a 12-year CBA suspension that has resulted in the stagnation of wages, benefits and working conditions. In contrast Lucio Tan has become even richer as a result of CBA moratorium and outsourcing,” Rivera said.
On Friday, Malacañang upheld the decision of the Department of Labor and Employment upholding the legality of PAL’s spin-off of three non-core units.
PAL’s spin-off package rose to P2.75 billion after Malacañang ordered a doubling of the gratuity to P100,000 from P50,000 for each employee.
PAL said that contingency measures were in place to keep its airplanes flying in case members of the Palea stage an illegal strike.
The Lucio Tan-owned airline said flights will continue to be operated according to published schedules while all ticket offices and other sales and airport facilities in Metro Manila, the provinces and stations abroad will maintain regular business operations.
In a separate statement, the Flight Attendants’ and Stewards’ Association of the Philippines said the Labor department affirmed its decision granting salary increases to its members, increases of rice allowance, raising the compulsory retirement age to 60 years old and improvements on pregnancy and maternity benefits.
“We hope that PAL management will accept this decision and finally put to rest the dispute with Fasap. The competition in the airline industry will heighten, and it would be best for PAL to unite with its front liners, mend the bruises and work together to reclaim its rightful place as the number one Airline in the country,” Bob Anduiza, Fasap president said.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
PAL girds up as union calls for a strike today
by Vito Barcelo
Manila Standard Today
April 2, 2011
PHILIPPINE Airlines’ ground workers said Friday they will strike today despite the Labor Department’s efforts to keep the flag carrier’s operations from being disrupted.
More than 500 members of the PAL Employees Association said they will also rally at the airport after the ban preventing them from striking lapsed Friday.
“[The union] is 100 percent ready for a strike that will paralyze the operations of PAL that, in cahoots with the Aquino government, wants to deny workers the right to regular jobs and a collective bargaining agreement,” group president Gerry Rivera said.
“The only thing that can prevent a strike is for PAL to heed the demand to stop outsourcing and open CBA negotiations without preconditions.”
The airline said it was ready for the worst, and that many administrative employees and even union members were ready to man the posts to be vacated by protesting workers.
“We apologize to our passengers for whatever anxiety and inconvenience the threats of work stoppage have spawned,” airline president Jaime Bautista said.
“We are doing everything we can to ensure that your flights will proceed as scheduled.”
Last week, the Palace affirmed a Labor Department ruling allowing the airline to lay off 2,600 employees as part of a program to spin off its ground service operations and outsource those services.
Rivera said other labor groups will join the ground workers at Terminal 2 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Ground workers will also strike in Cebu and Davao.
“This mass action is an expression of the unity of the labor movement in the common fight for regular jobs and against the government’s policy of contractualization,” he said.
“This is also a dress rehearsal for the nationwide strike.”
Also on Friday, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz affirmed a previous decision favoring the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines in its collective bargaining agreement dispute with PAL management.
She ordered the airline to reinstate the eight flight pursers who were retired when their cases were still being reviewed.
The carrier served notices of retirement to eight senior flight attendants who turned 55 years old in January, but the flight attendants’ union challenged the the decision before the Labor Department.
Manila Standard Today
April 2, 2011
PHILIPPINE Airlines’ ground workers said Friday they will strike today despite the Labor Department’s efforts to keep the flag carrier’s operations from being disrupted.
More than 500 members of the PAL Employees Association said they will also rally at the airport after the ban preventing them from striking lapsed Friday.
“[The union] is 100 percent ready for a strike that will paralyze the operations of PAL that, in cahoots with the Aquino government, wants to deny workers the right to regular jobs and a collective bargaining agreement,” group president Gerry Rivera said.
“The only thing that can prevent a strike is for PAL to heed the demand to stop outsourcing and open CBA negotiations without preconditions.”
The airline said it was ready for the worst, and that many administrative employees and even union members were ready to man the posts to be vacated by protesting workers.
“We apologize to our passengers for whatever anxiety and inconvenience the threats of work stoppage have spawned,” airline president Jaime Bautista said.
“We are doing everything we can to ensure that your flights will proceed as scheduled.”
Last week, the Palace affirmed a Labor Department ruling allowing the airline to lay off 2,600 employees as part of a program to spin off its ground service operations and outsource those services.
Rivera said other labor groups will join the ground workers at Terminal 2 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Ground workers will also strike in Cebu and Davao.
“This mass action is an expression of the unity of the labor movement in the common fight for regular jobs and against the government’s policy of contractualization,” he said.
“This is also a dress rehearsal for the nationwide strike.”
Also on Friday, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz affirmed a previous decision favoring the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines in its collective bargaining agreement dispute with PAL management.
She ordered the airline to reinstate the eight flight pursers who were retired when their cases were still being reviewed.
The carrier served notices of retirement to eight senior flight attendants who turned 55 years old in January, but the flight attendants’ union challenged the the decision before the Labor Department.
PAL makes history in New Delhi
by Eric Apolonio
Manila Standard Today
April 2, 2011
After 57 years of absence in the vast India market, Philippine Airlines on Tuesday resumed its flight to New Delhi, marking the start of a regular service to and from the capital city three times a week and another three flights weekly via Bangkok.
With 300 passengers, PAL’s Boeing 777 aircraft landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport and made aviation history.
PAL President-chief executive officer Jaime Bautista said: “This time, India is no longer a stopover but a regular destination.”
PAL first flew to India in May 1947 when it made a stopover at Calcutta on the way to Rome, Madrid and London during PAL’s inaugural flight to Europe.
The flag carrier flies to India by availing of the entitlements granted in the 2005 RP-India air services agreement, Bautista said. This treaty allows PAL to fly to Mumbai,Calcutta and Chennai (Madras), with Bangkok as a stop-over point, he said.
PAL can fly seven times a week from any point in the Philippines to New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai and has allocated 188,000 seats annually for the Indian route.
The service to India has become more attractive by the Indian government’s easing the visa requirements for Philippine passport holders. Filipinos, along with residents of selected Southeast Asian countries, are granted visa upon arrival in India. Passengers arriving in New Delhi only need to present a passport valid for at least four to six months, a return airline ticket and two photos.
PAL will make available over 188,000 airline seats a year for Indian travellers.
PAL executive vice-president Vivienne Tan told Manila Standard during the formal launch of the services at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi on Wednesday that the carrier’s target is to make the people of the two countries know, explore and learn from each other better through enhanced connectivity and ease of travel.
Manila Standard Today
April 2, 2011
After 57 years of absence in the vast India market, Philippine Airlines on Tuesday resumed its flight to New Delhi, marking the start of a regular service to and from the capital city three times a week and another three flights weekly via Bangkok.
With 300 passengers, PAL’s Boeing 777 aircraft landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport and made aviation history.
PAL President-chief executive officer Jaime Bautista said: “This time, India is no longer a stopover but a regular destination.”
PAL first flew to India in May 1947 when it made a stopover at Calcutta on the way to Rome, Madrid and London during PAL’s inaugural flight to Europe.
The flag carrier flies to India by availing of the entitlements granted in the 2005 RP-India air services agreement, Bautista said. This treaty allows PAL to fly to Mumbai,Calcutta and Chennai (Madras), with Bangkok as a stop-over point, he said.
PAL can fly seven times a week from any point in the Philippines to New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai and has allocated 188,000 seats annually for the Indian route.
The service to India has become more attractive by the Indian government’s easing the visa requirements for Philippine passport holders. Filipinos, along with residents of selected Southeast Asian countries, are granted visa upon arrival in India. Passengers arriving in New Delhi only need to present a passport valid for at least four to six months, a return airline ticket and two photos.
PAL will make available over 188,000 airline seats a year for Indian travellers.
PAL executive vice-president Vivienne Tan told Manila Standard during the formal launch of the services at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi on Wednesday that the carrier’s target is to make the people of the two countries know, explore and learn from each other better through enhanced connectivity and ease of travel.
Labor takes over PAL row
MANILA, Philippines—Hours before the strike ban imposed on the Philippine Airlines’ (PAL) ground crew union lapsed on Friday, the labor department turned over the case to the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), effectively averting a work stoppage at the national flag carrier.
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz on Friday issued a certification order, handing over the labor dispute to the NLRC since the issue involved “unfair labor practices” and not a deadlock in the collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
“The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) cannot assume jurisdiction because what is being talked about is unfair labor practices, not a deadlock in the CBA,” Baldoz told the Inquirer by phone on Friday night.
Same effect
But the certification order has the same effect as the assumption of jurisdiction as the former would also prevent the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (Palea) from going on strike, explained Baldoz.
Palea cannot push through with its planned work stoppage while the case is being heard by the NLRC, she said.
DoLE also upheld its earlier decision to stop PAL from retiring senior flight attendants who reach the age of 55.
In its ruling, the DoLE Friday affirmed its previous decision favoring the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (Fasap) in its CBA dispute with PAL.
Baldoz also directed PAL to reinstate the flight pursers who were retired while the labor case was being heard.
Before the DoLE order, Palea members and their supporters snarled traffic along Tramo Street in Pasay City Frid\ afternoon as they marched to Terminal 2 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
‘All systems go’
Palea members, along with other militant groups, announced that it’s all systems go for their first nationwide strike since 1998.
“Palea is 100 percent ready for a strike that will paralyze the operations of Philippine Airlines which is in cahoots with the Aquino government in denying workers the right to regular jobs and a collective bargaining agreement (CBA),” said Palea president Gerry Rivera in a statement.
He stressed that a strike could only be prevented if PAL heeds their demand to stop outsourcing and open CBA negotiations without preconditions.
Rivera added that synchronized mass actions were also held in Cebu and Davao.
“PAL will earn $1.6 billion in profit this year. Yet it refuses to share the fruits of production with its employees via a CBA,” Rivera insisted.
Ready for the worst
But PAL Friday assured its passengers that the national flag carrier is ready for a ‘worst case scenario’ of an actual work stoppage.
In a statement, PAL said it is ready to implement contingency measures to minimize flight disruptions and avoid passenger inconvenience in case a threatened walkout by its ground crew pushes through.
“Many PAL administrative employees, and even union members themselves, believe that a strike will not do the company any good. As such, they are ready to man posts to be vacated by protesting workers,” PAL president and COO Jaime J. Bautista said.
“We apologize to our passengers for whatever anxiety and inconvenience threats of work stoppage have spawned. Rest assured we are doing everything we can to ensure that your flights will proceed as scheduled,” he added.
Bautista said the planned strike had no legal basis. “First, it’s not true that management refuses to convene negotiations for a new CBA as claimed by Palea. Second, the union’s claim that there is no justifiable reasons for the spinoff of three units—airport services, in-flight catering and call center reservations—likewise have no leg to stand on,” he stressed.
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz on Friday issued a certification order, handing over the labor dispute to the NLRC since the issue involved “unfair labor practices” and not a deadlock in the collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
“The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) cannot assume jurisdiction because what is being talked about is unfair labor practices, not a deadlock in the CBA,” Baldoz told the Inquirer by phone on Friday night.
Same effect
But the certification order has the same effect as the assumption of jurisdiction as the former would also prevent the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (Palea) from going on strike, explained Baldoz.
Palea cannot push through with its planned work stoppage while the case is being heard by the NLRC, she said.
DoLE also upheld its earlier decision to stop PAL from retiring senior flight attendants who reach the age of 55.
In its ruling, the DoLE Friday affirmed its previous decision favoring the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (Fasap) in its CBA dispute with PAL.
Baldoz also directed PAL to reinstate the flight pursers who were retired while the labor case was being heard.
Before the DoLE order, Palea members and their supporters snarled traffic along Tramo Street in Pasay City Frid\ afternoon as they marched to Terminal 2 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
‘All systems go’
Palea members, along with other militant groups, announced that it’s all systems go for their first nationwide strike since 1998.
“Palea is 100 percent ready for a strike that will paralyze the operations of Philippine Airlines which is in cahoots with the Aquino government in denying workers the right to regular jobs and a collective bargaining agreement (CBA),” said Palea president Gerry Rivera in a statement.
He stressed that a strike could only be prevented if PAL heeds their demand to stop outsourcing and open CBA negotiations without preconditions.
Rivera added that synchronized mass actions were also held in Cebu and Davao.
“PAL will earn $1.6 billion in profit this year. Yet it refuses to share the fruits of production with its employees via a CBA,” Rivera insisted.
Ready for the worst
But PAL Friday assured its passengers that the national flag carrier is ready for a ‘worst case scenario’ of an actual work stoppage.
In a statement, PAL said it is ready to implement contingency measures to minimize flight disruptions and avoid passenger inconvenience in case a threatened walkout by its ground crew pushes through.
“Many PAL administrative employees, and even union members themselves, believe that a strike will not do the company any good. As such, they are ready to man posts to be vacated by protesting workers,” PAL president and COO Jaime J. Bautista said.
“We apologize to our passengers for whatever anxiety and inconvenience threats of work stoppage have spawned. Rest assured we are doing everything we can to ensure that your flights will proceed as scheduled,” he added.
Bautista said the planned strike had no legal basis. “First, it’s not true that management refuses to convene negotiations for a new CBA as claimed by Palea. Second, the union’s claim that there is no justifiable reasons for the spinoff of three units—airport services, in-flight catering and call center reservations—likewise have no leg to stand on,” he stressed.
Baldoz stops PALEA from holding nationwide strike
The Philippine Star
Updated April 02, 2011 12:00 AM
By Sheila Crisostomo
MANILA, Philippines - Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz yesterday stopped the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) from holding a nationwide strike.
“I transferred the case to the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC). It’s for the commission now to decide,” Baldoz said in a telephone interview.
The stoppage of the projected strike came on the heels of PALEA’s decision to go on a nationwide strike to demand the start of negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with management.
“PALEA is 100 percent ready for a strike that will paralyze the operations of Philippine Airlines (PAL) that, in cahoots with the Aquino government, wants to deny workers the right to regular jobs and a CBA,” said PALEA president Gerry Rivera.
The Labor chief was expected to assume “jurisdiction” of the case but she said that she could not exercise this option since the CBA dispute did not end in deadlock.
“It was not a deadlock. This concerns unfair labor practice so it’s an NLRC case. But the effect is the same, they cannot hold a strike while the case is being heard,” she clarified.
Rivera earlier said the “only thing that can prevent a strike is for PAL to heed the demand to stop outsourcing and open CBA negotiations without preconditions.”
PALEA members and supporters yesterday held a rally at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 as a “dress rehearsal” for the work stoppage yesterday when the strike ban imposed by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) ended.
“This mass action is an expression of the unity of the labor movement in the common fight for regular jobs and against the government’s policy of contractualization. This is also a dress rehearsal for the nationwide strike,” Rivera said yesterday, unaware of Baldoz’s last minute move.
He reiterated that while PAL stands to earn $1.6 billion in profit this year, “it refuses to share the fruits of production with its employees via a CBA.”
“PAL’s workers have already sacrificed with a 12-year CBA suspension that has resulted in the stagnation of wages, benefits and working conditions,” said Rivera.
Baldoz sides with FASAP
On another labor-related issue at the flag carrier, Baldoz affirmed her previous decision favoring the demand of the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP) that PAL raise their retirement age.
Baldoz said PAL had failed to show “new evidence” that would warrant a reversal of her Dec. 23, 2010 decision, raising the retirement age of cabin crew from 40 to 60.
In her ruling, Baldoz agreed with FASAP that the 40-year-old retirement age set by PAL “constitutes a clear discrimination of their right to equal work opportunity.”
The labor chief had also junked PAL’s “no motherhood” rule, where flight attendants were required to take prolonged leave without pay during pregnancy.
Under the resolution, female flight attendants are entitled to two pregnancy leaves for a maximum of seven months for each leave, to be credited in computing the length of service for retirement, 13th month pay, Christmas bonus, rice allowance, and trip passes.
They are also given maternity leaves for a maximum of four deliveries and these should be credited in computing the length of service for retirement, 13th month pay, Christmas bonus, rice allowance, and trip passes.
FASAP president Roberto Anduiza thanked Baldoz for upholding the rights of PAL flight attendants.
“The struggle to address age and gender discrimination in Philippine Airlines has been a life long battle for FASAP, and this decision helps greatly to correct the injustice against the female flight attendants,” Anduiza said.
Updated April 02, 2011 12:00 AM
By Sheila Crisostomo
MANILA, Philippines - Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz yesterday stopped the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) from holding a nationwide strike.
“I transferred the case to the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC). It’s for the commission now to decide,” Baldoz said in a telephone interview.
The stoppage of the projected strike came on the heels of PALEA’s decision to go on a nationwide strike to demand the start of negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with management.
“PALEA is 100 percent ready for a strike that will paralyze the operations of Philippine Airlines (PAL) that, in cahoots with the Aquino government, wants to deny workers the right to regular jobs and a CBA,” said PALEA president Gerry Rivera.
The Labor chief was expected to assume “jurisdiction” of the case but she said that she could not exercise this option since the CBA dispute did not end in deadlock.
“It was not a deadlock. This concerns unfair labor practice so it’s an NLRC case. But the effect is the same, they cannot hold a strike while the case is being heard,” she clarified.
Rivera earlier said the “only thing that can prevent a strike is for PAL to heed the demand to stop outsourcing and open CBA negotiations without preconditions.”
PALEA members and supporters yesterday held a rally at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 as a “dress rehearsal” for the work stoppage yesterday when the strike ban imposed by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) ended.
“This mass action is an expression of the unity of the labor movement in the common fight for regular jobs and against the government’s policy of contractualization. This is also a dress rehearsal for the nationwide strike,” Rivera said yesterday, unaware of Baldoz’s last minute move.
He reiterated that while PAL stands to earn $1.6 billion in profit this year, “it refuses to share the fruits of production with its employees via a CBA.”
“PAL’s workers have already sacrificed with a 12-year CBA suspension that has resulted in the stagnation of wages, benefits and working conditions,” said Rivera.
Baldoz sides with FASAP
On another labor-related issue at the flag carrier, Baldoz affirmed her previous decision favoring the demand of the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP) that PAL raise their retirement age.
Baldoz said PAL had failed to show “new evidence” that would warrant a reversal of her Dec. 23, 2010 decision, raising the retirement age of cabin crew from 40 to 60.
In her ruling, Baldoz agreed with FASAP that the 40-year-old retirement age set by PAL “constitutes a clear discrimination of their right to equal work opportunity.”
The labor chief had also junked PAL’s “no motherhood” rule, where flight attendants were required to take prolonged leave without pay during pregnancy.
Under the resolution, female flight attendants are entitled to two pregnancy leaves for a maximum of seven months for each leave, to be credited in computing the length of service for retirement, 13th month pay, Christmas bonus, rice allowance, and trip passes.
They are also given maternity leaves for a maximum of four deliveries and these should be credited in computing the length of service for retirement, 13th month pay, Christmas bonus, rice allowance, and trip passes.
FASAP president Roberto Anduiza thanked Baldoz for upholding the rights of PAL flight attendants.
“The struggle to address age and gender discrimination in Philippine Airlines has been a life long battle for FASAP, and this decision helps greatly to correct the injustice against the female flight attendants,” Anduiza said.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Philippine Airlines returns to India after 57 years
Business Mirror
Companies
By Recto Mercene
April 1-2, 2011
Companies
By Recto Mercene
April 1-2, 2011
NEW DELHI—Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) inaugurated its regular service here on Wednesday, linking the country with the Indian capital of New Delhi. The non-stop flight took six -and-a-half hours and touched down at the Indira Gandhi International Airport at 2:30 am with more than 200 passengers onboard.
Key government and PAL officials, led by airline chairman Lucio C. Tan, were welcomed by India’s tourism officials, businessmen, investors, travel and tourism officials.
Vivienne K. Tan, PAL executive vice president for commercial group, said the launch of the Manila-New Delhi route “is in step with the government’s program to perk up the economy by bringing in more tourists and serves as a vital air link between [the] two countries.”
Jaime Bautista, president and chief executivesaid: “PAL is flying to an India that’s a destination in its own right. [The] country has emerged in recent years as one of the world’s economic powerhouses. The booming economy has spawned a high-spending middle-class of 350 million consumers and is growing by 20 million every year, for whom travel is a major aspiration. In 2009, about 8 million Indians traveled abroad, of which 2 million went to Southeast Asia.
Bautista, however, pointed out that only 32,817 Indians visited the Philippines, far behind the figures in Singapore (726,000), Thailand (611,983), Malaysia (589,838), and Indonesia (150,000).
He said PAL will aim to accelerate this traffic stream by making available over 188,000 airline seats a year for Indian travelers. He added that these travelers now enjoy the convenience of having their travel time greatly reduced from the previous 10 to 30 hours via a third-country connection to just six and a half hours with direct PAL flights.
“Our new service also aims to increase Filipino visitors to India. The Indian government has made our job much easier when it adopted, earlier this year, a visa-on-arrival policy for Filipinos,” Bautista said.
PAL’s new service is also expected to boost business travel between the two countries, particularly in the rapidly growing information technology sector.
PAL is allocating 188,000 seats a year on the Indian route, in keeping with the provisions of the 2005 Philippine-Indian air services agreement that also allows PAL to fly seven times a week from any point in the Philippines to Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai (formerly Madras).
PAL’s return to India coincides with the carrier’s 70th anniversary and underscores the storied past of Asia’s first airline.
The flag carrier first flew to the subcontinent on May 3, 1947 when it stopped in Calcutta on a pioneering DC-4 service from Manila to Rome, Madrid and London, making PAL the first Southeast Asian airline to fly to Europe.
The stopover in Calcutta was essential because the propeller-powered DC-4 had limited range. The journey from the Far East to Europe took two days and frequent stops were necessary.
Despite the distance, the Manila-Calcutta and vice-versa legs of PAL’s flights to Europe were quite popular. India and the Philippines were young, newly independent republics then and there was much interaction between the two nations.
In 1954, the Philippine government ordered the suspension of PAL’s long-range services, including the one to Europe, as an austerity measure in the midst of an economic recession. Unfortunately, this had the unintended effect of cutting off the Calcutta connection.
When PAL resumed European flights in 1969, the new DC-8 jets made technical stops in South Asia unnecessary. Regrettably, the link to India was never restored—until today.
Philippines is a hot destination for Indian companies engaged in business process outsourcing, with the country now hosting more than 20 Indian BPO firms, including such industry giants as Accenture, Infosys, Aegis, Genpact, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services.
PAL starts regular flights to India
The Philippine Star
By Rudy Santos
April 1, 2011, 12:00 AM
By Rudy Santos
April 1, 2011, 12:00 AM
NEW DELHI – Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) inaugurated its regular service here last Wednesday, linking the country with India’s capital, by flying non-stop in six and a half hours and touching down at the Indira Gandhi International Airport at 2:30 a.m. with more than 200 passengers onboard.
Key government and PAL officials, led by PAL chairman Lucio C. Tan were welcomed by India’s tourism officials, businessmen, investors, travel and tourism officials.
Vivienne K. Tan, PAL executive vice president-commercial group, said the launch of the Manila-New Delhi route “is in step with the government’s program to perk up the economy by bringing in more tourists and serves as a vital air link between our two countries.”
Jaime Bautista, PAL president and CEO, said: “PAL is flying to an India that… has emerged in recent years as one of the world’s economic powerhouses, with GDP growth of close to nine percent this financial year. India’s $1.4-trillion economy is now the third largest in Asia and 11th largest in the world.”
He said the booming economy has spawned a high-spending middle class of 350 million consumers that’s growing by 20 million people every year, for whom travel is a major aspiration. In 2009, about eight million Indians traveled abroad and two million of them headed to Southeast Asia.
However, Bautista noted that only a trickle, 32,817 Indians, visited the Philippines, far behind corresponding figures for Singapore (726,000), Thailand (611,983), Malaysia (589,838) and Indonesia (150,000).
He said PAL will aim to accelerate this traffic stream by making available over 188,000 airline seats a year for Indian travelers to and from the Philippines. He added that these travelers now enjoy the convenience of having their travel time greatly reduced from the previous 10 to 30 hours via a third-country connection to just six and a half hours with direct PAL flights.
PAL flew to Calcutta 57 years ago for refueling stop on the way to Rome, Paris and London using a propeller-driven DC-4. The whole trip took 30 hours.
To complement the direct Delhi-Manila service three times weekly, Bautista said PAL has added another three weekly flights routed via Bangkok. This gives the traveler a wider choice of itineraries for the three cities covered by the PAL service.
“Going the other way, our new service also aims to increase Filipino visitors to India. The Indian government has made our job much easier when it adopted, earlier this year, a visa-on-arrival policy for Filipinos.”
With all of the incentives now in place – visa-on-arrival, combined with PAL’s six flights weekly and greater promotional efforts in the Philippine market – expect a boom in Filipino visitor arrivals in India, Bautista added.
As bonus, he said that PAL’s new service is also expected to boost business travel between the two countries, particularly in the rapidly growing information technology sector.
PAL is allocating 188,000 seats a year on the Indian route, in keeping with the provisions of the 2005 RP-Indian air services agreement that also allows PAL to fly seven times a week from any point in the Philippines to Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai (formerly Madras).
PAL’s return to India coincides with the carrier’s 70th anniversary and underscores the storied past of Asia’s first airline.
The flag carrier first flew to the subcontinent on May 3, 1947 when it stopped in the cities of Calcutta and Karachi on a pioneering DC-4 service from Manila to Rome, Madrid and London, making PAL the first Southeast Asian airline to fly to Europe.
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