11 September 2014
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| Philippine Airlines (PAL) has deferred delivery of its Airbus A330-300 aircraft order from Airbus S.A. The affected frame (1553, RP-C8764) was scheduled for delivery on August 28 when the airline announced there will be delay to its acceptance due to change in corporate leadership. No further information is made available as to the status of other aircraft orders. There are four remaining A330 frames yet to be delivered to the airline after it cancelled the other five in February. Earlier this week San Miguel Corporation (SMC) agreed to sell back the airline to its previous owner, the Lucio Tan group for more than US $1 billion. SMC owns 49 per cent of PAL Holdings which in turn controls about 90 per cent of Philippine Airlines and 100 per cent of its low cost subsidiary Air Philippines. |
RP-C8764 was accepted by Philippine Airlines on August 29 from Airbus and was flown to Manila as PR5007 arriving MNL on August 30. Its maiden flight was made on September 14 to HongKong. The aircraft is now flying regularly for PAL.
ReplyDeleteIn a statement to the employees this morning, newly appointed PAL President Jaime Bautista said the airline would review current programs and resources to determine the best use of the new planes and the most prudent choice of upcoming destinations, while maximizing benefits of innovations.
ReplyDelete“We may have to revisit the previous strategy” by striking a balance between cost-reduction with improving productivity and performance,” Bautista said.
I'm excited about their new destinations, but PAL has a long way to go before they could return to their world class status once again. In my opinion, the airline needs to solve two major issues: Aircraft of choice (per route) and In - Flight service.
DeleteIf PAL wants to expand worldwide, they should have had orders for long range aircraft that is capable of achieving this feat (B77W's, B77L's, B788's, B789's or even a B748 or a A380). Yes, they have the new 333's but these birds have only enough range to reach the middle east or the pacific coast of Northern America. Their range is limited and will not meet the airline's vision of a worldwide expansion.
Having new aircraft on each route is just the first part, the other one is their in - flight service. PAL is known in the past to have the best cabin crew, flight attendants are known for their top - notch hospitality, world - renowned in - flight meals and amenities. Today however, it's very different (although they still have the best pilots in the world if you ask me), they have a negative image amongst its loyal passengers and thus prompted them to replace PAL as their airline of choice. If only they could be more connected with their passengers and give them the next generation of in-flight entertainment systems and amenities, then there is no doubt that PAL can compete with world - class airlines and by doing so, they could re - establish themselves as Asia's Best Airline and one of the best Airline companies in the world.
As a Filipino and an aviation enthusiast, I want to see PAL succeed in its plans into re - establish itself from its former glory. I want it to be at the top and to be recognized if not one of the best, the best airline in the world. It gives me pride whenever our Flag Carrier is making progress with its plans. They've always been the Filipino's Airline; Fly the Flag, Fly Proud.
PAL should also expand its Technical Services Agreement with Lufthansa Technik Philippines to include daily line maintenace & technical release every departure.There is no sense in doing its daily maintenance and sending airplanes to China for annual maintenance.PAL should instead concentrate in marketing & improvement of in flight service.
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