Sta. Maria Bids PAL Goodbye, as Ng Takes COO Post

31 January 2021

 PAL president and COO Gilbert Santa Maria will leave flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) in good hands on January 31, 2022, as he leaves the airline to Captain Stanley Kua Ng, Lucio Tan's son in law who previously occupies Senior Vice President for Operations posts.

 Captain Stanley K. Ng becomes the second pilot to be president of PAL since 1963. Mr. Ng began his career with the airline as a member of the on-ground staff in 2003 before attending the PAL Aviation School.

 He started flying as a second officer in 2008 flying airbus A320s and “rose up the ranks until he was promoted to senior vice-president in 2019 in charge of the airline’s pilots and cabin crew. He also heads airport operations and engineering.

Ng took up Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Major in Computer Applications at the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde and recently completed an Advance Management Program at Harvard Business School.

The airline said Captain Stanley Ng was appointed as new president and COO in an acting officer-in-charge (OIC) capacity only.

Sta. Maria tendered his resignation to airline CEO Lucio Tan last December 2021 after Philippine Airlines received approval from the US Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York on Dec. 17 for its reorganization plan, a turnaround strategy he tendered during pandemic. The airline filed for Chapter 11 in September.

PAL said Mr. Santa Maria had “completed his engagement with Philippine Airlines after successfully leading and completing the Chapter 11 process.”

Santa Maria took the leadership of PAL from Jaime J. Bautista in July 2019 after the latter retired from service. 

“The Board expressed its gratitude to Mr. Santa Maria for his steady stewardship of the company over the last two and a half years,” the company said.