Economy Class

PR1 Like No Other

8 July 2016

The highest official of the land travels in style like no other.

Economy Class. Premium that is.

Like most Filipinos, President Rodrigo Duterte for the first time, as Chief Executive of the country, travels from Manila to Davao City in an ordinary commercial flight of Philippine Airlines (PAL) Thursday night. Duterte took a premium economy seat onboard Philippine Airlines A321-200 Flight PR 1825, which departed Manila at 9 p.m.

photo by King Rodriguez

PR1 Escort

19 February 2016

“Everyone was swelling with pride”

Proud moments of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) once again doing its role as fighter FA-50 escorts the Presidential plane PR 1 (RP-C3438) as it should be on Philippine Airspace. Image courtesy PAF

From the window of his plane, President Benigno Aquino III watched the country’s newest Philippine Air Force PAF) FA-50 fighter fly beside Philippine Airlines (PR) 001 as it made its approach before landing at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).

It was a sight that no one thought would see again, more than 10 years after the PAF decommissioned the last of its F-5 fighter jets, that cheers and applause broke inside the presidential plane.

In a statement, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said that the FA-50 fighter jets escorted PR 001 carrying President Aquino and his official delegation “from the air space above Polillo island as the PAL Airbus 343 plane made its approach before landing at the NAIA.”

“The fighter jets took off from Clark Field Air Base. They made contact with the presidential flight at 6:37 am which eventually landed at 7:05 am,” said Coloma, who was with the President’s delegation.

One Last Hurrah! For The President That Made It Possible

PR1 Arrives Paris For COP21

30 November 2015

Philippine Airlines PR1 (RP-C3438) arriving at Paris Le Bourget Airport to attend Climate Summit.

Iberian A340 Returns Home For A Visit

 As PR1 Arrives Spain

14 September 2014

RP-C3435 (sn302,ex EC-HDQ) Arrives at 7:10AM in Madrid's Torrejon Airport bringing the President of the Republic of the Philippines on the first leg of a week-long Official State visit to mainland Europe. It will then fly to Belgium and then to Paris and Berlin later in the week. 

Aquino’s visit to France will be the first for a Philippine head of state since 1994. The President chooses Spain as his first itinerary to Europe considering the shared history and cultural heritage between the two countries.The Philippines is also the only country that receives Official Development Assistance from Spain.

PR1 Departs Sydney

October 27, 2012

President Benigno S. Aquino III winds up five-day visit to New Zealand and the Commonwealth of Australia, as he prepares for departure to Manila yesterday via Philippine Airlines Airbus A330-300 (RP-C3333) flight PR001 at the Hawker Pacific Flight Center in Sydney International Airport.

Legacy Jet for the next president?

TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS



By Babe Romualdez

September 1, 2009

The P1.2-billion budget they were planning for GMA’s executive jet no doubt had bad timing because it came on the heels of criticisms regarding the president’s trips abroad and the lavish dinners in New York and Washington. At this time, it would be more practical and cost effective for the president to lease because she will not have to worry about the problems that have to go with maintaining an executive aircraft.

But perhaps when all the furor has subsided and when the effects of the global recession are starting to subside, people will not be so resistant to the idea of a private jet for the country’s new president – whoever he or she may be. For one, there’s the question of safety. No one will argue that the current fleet at the president’s disposal is composed of half-a-century old planes that are in dire need of some serious refurbishing – problems that afflict even the Philippine Air Force as a whole with their outdated fleet of choppers, fighter jets and other equipment.

An aircraft worth considering would be the Legacy Executive jet from Brazilian aerospace conglomerate Embraer, one of the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers. From the time the company was privatized in 1994, it has become one of the best known companies and a top exporter in Brazil. ATR Kim Eng Financial Corp. chairman Ramon Arnaiz has been quietly working through his Rako Trading Corp. to successfully acquire the exclusive distributorship of the Legacy Executive jet series in the Philippines. The new super midsize aircraft (with a $27-million tag price) on display at the Domestic Airport would be appropriate for the travel needs of the next president of this country.

Derived from the commercial jetliners ERJ-135 and ERJ-145, the Legacy Executive is configured with up to 15 seats, with a full glass cockpit that includes a Honeywell Primus 1000 digital avionics suite and color weather radar with turbulence detection. It also has a Global Positioning System and satellite communications capability. The interior cabin is built with fine-quality hardwood finishes. The cabin can be configured into a 12-seater with sideboard, tables and a three-seat sofa, and it would be perfect for any president who is not over six feet in height.

In 2004, Embraer delivered its first Legacy Executive jet in Macao through the Legend Development Company of David Chow, and Ramon is hoping the Philippines wills see its first Legacy aircraft in the next couple of years. Although the market for midsize jets may still be relatively small, they will try to market it aggressively and simulate the success of Embraer over the years. Although the flagship line is the popular Legacy 600 which began flying in 2002, Embraer has announced two new models, the Legacy 500 and the Legacy 450, which will enter service in 2010 and 2013, respectively. In November last year, the Brazilian conglomerate (with headquarters in Sao Paolo whose facilities boast of a 5,000-m runway that is said to be the third longest in the world) received a total value order of over $208 million for its Legacy series, including from Middle East customers.

While the Brazilian conglomerate’s closest competitor is Canadian manufacturer Bombardier, it has been cutting into the US market and is giving Boeing and Lear jets a run for their money. As a matter of fact, the company has maintenance and commercial offices in Fort Lauderdale in the US and in Paris, Singapore and Beijing. The market in the US however may be a little difficult at this time considering the global financial crisis, with American businessmen selling off their private aircraft. About two weeks ago, the US Congress also announced it was scrapping plans to buy four new executive passenger jets worth $550 million for the Air Force. It’s also dropping plans to refurbish jets for the use of government officials.

It can be recalled that some Congressmen almost went ballistic when automobile executives asking for government bailout money flew into Washington with their executive jets – prompting one irate lawmaker to comment that it was ironic for auto executives to fly to Washington with a begging bowl in hand. Early this year, Citigroup had to drop plans for the purchase of a $50 million Dassault Falcon jet it ordered in 2005 even though it would have to pay huge penalties due to severe criticism from legislators and ordinary Americans, with Barack Obama also commenting that buying jets was not the best use of money by companies receiving government bailout funds.

Embraer though continues to be optimistic with the future of the company, breaking ground for its first US assembly plant in December last year. According to former Embraer president and CEO Mauricio Botelho (who is credited for turning the flagging, state-owned company into the 4^th largest aircraft manufacturer in the world), their strategy has been to take on the competition by “offering products with the latest technology and more competitive operating costs,” anticipating better profit margins in the area of executive aviation than in commercial aviation. There are now over 130 Legacy aircraft operating in more than 23 countries, including China and India – and hopefully soon, the Philippines.

THE AQUINO LEGACY

Its always been a business class trip!

August Special Edition

It can be said that Foreign Travels tells you what kind of leader your President was. Nothing can be more exemplary than President Corazon Aquino.

During the Eulogical speech of Feliciano Belmonte to his former boss last Tuesday, he spoke about how the President entrusted him on the management of some corporate cash cows. One of those prominent cash machines was Philippine Airlines. Its akin to one of the geese that lays the golden egg for the Republic yet an economic time-bomb by itself.

As I watched and listened the necrological episodes in tribute to Cory Aquino, I can't help but recall how her government earnestly tried to managed a growing monster inside the airline that bleeds it to eventual collapse in 1998.

Truly indeed, Cory Aquino, who inherited an ailing economy from the previous government, never dipped a finger on PAL despite her grip of control as Belmonte pointed out. Her brother, Pepeng Cojuangco attested to it. Although its a different story if we talk about her cousin's influence which she has nothing to do about, much so their wealth that goes with it.

Her first foreign travel after assuming office became a standard of what she truly is. A standard too difficult for other leaders to follow. And yet, its always been that way until she stepped down from power.

Cory Aquino traveled in style. A style far from the norm of her predecessor in a class befitting a Head of State. She insisted to travel on business class when first class could have been more better. With a status and power equivalent to today's Chief Executive Officer, she could easily do so on a whim to a company under her control.

But no, she acted like what Lucio Tan always did when traveling his airline. Be like an ordinary passenger just like any body else. Its more like leading by example. After all, as she always said, to Teddy Boy Locsin "its not our money."

While in business class, you would have thought the area where she sat be blocked to cordoned her, but you should be surprised that she sat with other business class passengers.

The Head of State of the Philippines and Philippine Airlines supreme boss insisted to be treated just like a normal business-class passenger.

When she first went to the United States as President in September 15, 1986 to address the United States Congress, She travelled on a tight budget going to Washington with only two suitcases and 15 cabinet officials in tow.

Its always been that way in a Boeing 747-200 during her Presidency, a far cry from her successors in Office and a mile away from her predecessor who on a 1982 visit chartered two 747s, blocked off one first-class section for a bedroom and the entire 747 for the exclusive use of the Presidential family, while another 747 carried the entourage of 300 people.

Few might know that Cory Aquino earned the distinction to be the only Philippine President to board Air Force One that ferried her from San Francisco to Washington, although the US 747 was coded as Air Force two because of the presence of Vice President George Bush. She was also the only Philippine President to board Marine One courtesy of Ronald Reagan.

Few Head of States are invited to address the United States Congress and fewer still are those invited to ride the US Presidential jet. Perhaps, the American people knew well what most of us never managed to know.

******************

Why arroz caldo is on PAL’s menu

By Gil Carolino

In 1987, Malacañang appointed me to be a member of The Committee on State Visits of President Corazon C. Aquino. I was then with Philippine Airlines and this unexpected appointment gave me the distinct privilege of going with Tita Cory on all her trips abroad. She made only a handful, less than a dozen (nothing compared to the more than 50 and 30 trips of two Philippine presidents), but they were more than enough for me to know Tita Cory up close and personal.

Tita Cory never gave the PAL crew any problem. She never demanded anything as far as service was concerned, like asking for special and elaborate meals. The only thing that she asked to be served was arroz caldo which, after that, became a standard feature of PAL’s inflight meals.

Tita Cory was very pleasant with the crew and everyone on the plane, including the regular passengers whom Tita Cory sought so she could have even a short conversation with them inside the plane. Everyone was awed by Tita Cory’s simplicity and pure heart.

Lunch at Arlegui

I am neither a close family friend nor an official of her administration, yet, very early on during her presidency, Tita Cory invited me and my wife to have lunch one Sunday with her children (Noynoy and Kris were not there) at the Arlegui residence inside the Malacañang compound. There we saw a fine lady, not the President of the land, but the loving mother to Ballsy, Pinky and Viel and their spouses, and the very doting lola (grandmother) to her apos (grandchildren).

And, how could you not be forever grateful to Tita Cory if she showed genuine concern for your safety and welfare of your family?

A few weeks before the outbreak of the 1991 Gulf war, I was all packed up to be based in Dubai, UAE, to be PAL’s regional vice president/GM for the Middle East. As a matter of respect, I called up the Office of the President and told Tita Cory’s eldest daughter Ballsy to inform the President about it. Before I could even hang up, Tita Cory was already on the line and asked me, “O, gusto mo ba yan?” to which I answered in the affirmative. She might have felt differently because a few minutes after we talked, then PAL Chair and now Quezon City Mayor Sonny Belmonte called me to his office and told me, “O, tumawag si Tita Cory, ayaw ka niyang ma-assign don kasi may guerra daw don.”

Out of harm’s way

I could not describe my feelings. I was simply overwhelmed because, to me, it was unimaginable that the President of the Philippines, who had far more important things to attend to, would personally go out of her way to do that.

Napakahalaga ng buhay ng tao sa kanya. She showed it again when she, subsequently, directed PAL to operate special flights to evacuate her countrymen who had no way out as they were stranded in the region during that most critical period. Tita Cory personally followed up the developments and actual operations of the special flights
which, I thought, she could just have assigned to her Cabinet and staff to coordinate with PAL.

Tita Cory is gone. However, our spontaneous outpouring of grief and sadness is solid proof that we fully embrace the ideals and aspirations she wholeheartedly and endlessly fought for. Let us keep the fire brightly glowing until another Tita Cory comes, though I feel sad realizing the fact that that time will be beyond my lifetime.

Malacañang cancels plan to purchase P1.2-B jet

Presidential jet to be bought by the next President!

August 17, 2009

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde announced yesterday that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo wants to end the furor over her travel expenses by ordering the cancellation of the planned purchase of a presidential jet that would have cost the government at least P1.2 billion.

“I’m formally announcing that the President has ordered the cancellation of the purchase of the presidential jet. This is the second time that the President has ordered its cancellation even if this has long been recommended by the Presidential Airlift Wing several times,” says Remonde.

“She ordered the cancellation because she doesn’t want her critics to say that she’s prioritizing her own needs,” he added. But actually the new executive jet would not have just benefited Arroyo but also her successors, ensuring their safety and minimizing costs during local and foreign travels, Remonde said.

The Office of the President's (OP) prepared advertisement in the National Papers Thursday last week inviting bids to supply a brand new twin jet with VIP cabin configuration with budget of $25 million.

Had the offer pushed through, the most likely candidate for the Executive jet could have been the Legacy 600 jet manufactured by Embraer of Brazil says its local agent in Manila.

The Embraer jet has been offered to the President for her consideration when she visited Brazil in June this year which then became the basis of the bid proposal.

The Legacy 600 jet which was launch in 2000 carry 16 passengers and has a range of 3250 nautical miles which can easily reach Seoul, Tokyo and Sydney on a single journey and one refueling stop to reach the US west coast, the same specifications intended by the Office of the President. The jet is $5 million cheaper than its nearest comparable competitor aircraft manufactured by Bombardier of Canada.

Arroyo wants $25 million jet for Presidency

'Focus on repair of C130s, not jet' says Biazon

BAGUIO CITY , Philippines – Malacañang has lost its sense of priority in purchasing an executive jet for the president, Sen. Rodolfo Biazon said yesterday.

Instead of buying an expensive private jet for the president, Malacañang should prioritize the upkeep of the Air Force’s remaining three C130s that badly need repair and upgrade, he said.

Biazon, a former Armed Forces chief, said the mobility of the military should be the priority of the government.

“And besides, the president doesn’t need a jet… the Philippines is so small,” Biazon said.

Malacañang justified its move to buy a brand-new presidential jet worth P1.2 billion, saying it would also benefit President Arroyo’s successors and greatly reduce security risks and other dangers when the nation’s leaders use aging planes or charter aircraft.

President Arroyo either takes a commercial flight or charters a flight when going on foreign trips. For domestic trips or visits to nearby countries, Malacañang leases private jets.

The last presidential aircraft was an aging Fokker F-28 jet used by former Presidents Fidel Ramos, occasionally by Joseph Estrada, and a few times by Mrs. Arroyo at the start of her administration in 2001.

An older presidential aircraft was the Fokker F-27, which was propeller-driven.

In the later part of the Ramos administration, the same aircraft was used to ferry journalists or Palace officials. It is no longer in use as it is considered dangerous to fly.

Mrs. Arroyo earlier donated two of the presidential helicopters to the Air Force.

The Office of the President earlier published a notice of biddings for a “presidential fixed-wing executive jet” that must be factory new, with two turbo-fan engines pressurized and equipped with avionics and instruments that are prescribed and compliant with the standards of the Federal Aviation Administration and International Civil Aviation Organization.

The aircraft is set for delivery at the end of the year following the bidding process that starts this month.

----------------

Arroyo's Foreign Travel cost $56 Million

The trips could have bought her an Airbus 319

August 15, 2009

According to the Commission on Audit (COA), President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has racked up P2.7 billion ($56 million at current exchange rates) in expenses for her foreign trips beginning 2003, or more than double the P1.1-billion limit set by Congress from 2003 to 2008.

COA Assistant Commissioner Carmela Perez in a Congressional Hearing at August 12 said that the President’s foreign travels cost P332 million in 2003 (from a budget of P72 million), P256 million in 2004 (from P74 million), P325 million in 2005 (from P209 million), P421 million in 2006 (from P261 million), P656 million in 2007 (from P261 million) and P722 million in 2008 (from P244 million).

Bukidnon Rep. Teofisto Guingona III was reported by the inquirer to have said that there was an effort to mislead the public by keeping the President’s official foreign travel budget relatively low and using her office’s contingency fund to fill up for any shortfall in funding.

“There is a pattern here. She is hiding her travel expenses in her contingency funds, like she is preventing the public from seeing [the real picture]. There is a violation against transparency and honesty. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth,” the lawmaker said.

He said the contingency fund was allotted for emergency purposes but Ms Arroyo had been using it exclusively to bankroll her foreign trips.

COA records also showed that the President spent some P1.44 billion on her foreign travels from 2002 to 2007.

The breakdown of the foreign travels is listed as “Traveling Expense-Foreign” under the Office of the President’s Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) and showed how Ms Arroyo’s travel expenses swelled every year:

2002-P80,625,108.20
2003-P109,870,203.33
2004-P115,980,557.42
2005-P154,383,308.01
2006-P398,447,583.30
2007-P588,495,232,26

TRAVEL EXPENSES

Year Budget Actual
2003 P72 M P332 M
2004 P74 M P256 M
2005 P209 M P325 M
2006 P261 M P421 M
2007 P261 M P656 M
2008 P244 M P722 M
Total P1.121 B P2.712 B

But for all that, the President is not about to stay put.

Gary Olivar, Ms Arroyo’s spokesperson on economic matters, Friday told reporters that she had not overshot her budget for foreign trips and had “budget room” to go abroad in the 10 remaining months of her term.

“Well, the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) numbers tell us that there’s still budget room for her to continue to travel because she has not exceeded her budget,” Olivar said when asked at a briefing if Ms Arroyo would cut down on trips.

He added: “It all depends on the benefits we’re looking for whenever she travels.”

Quoting the DBM, Olivar said that in 2008, the Office of the President spent some P233.8 million on local and foreign trips out of the P244.6 million allotted in the 2008 national budget.

DBM figures on her trips from 2001 to 2007 were not available.

Olivar argued that if ever the Office of the President exceeded its budget for foreign trips, this was allowed under Section 62 of the General Appropriations Act for 2008.

Section 62 states that agencies may augment any item of expenditure within the MOOE from savings in other MOOE items without DBM approval.

“There’s budget flexibility. Provided she can find savings in other parts of the budget to fund more trips, then that is allowed,” Olivar said.

Besides, no one can put a price tag on the pledges of investments, potential employment for workers and stay of executions of overseas Filipino workers that are gained from such trips, he said.

Behind PR 1 Arroyo is not always the boss

President Arroyo doesn’t always get her own way!

Manila - IT is common knowledge that President Gloria Arroyo is a tough, hands-on operator who by sheer force of personality (and conviction, of course!) always manages to get everyone around her to her way of thinking. And the long and seemingly tireless hours she puts into the job is legendary—as is her temper when anyone in her official family or presidential staff is found to be amiss in their duty.

But on a recent flight between Manila and Los Angeles, when she was en route to her state visit to Peru, President Arroyo discovered that she doesn’t always get her own way—as we too found out during a pre-Holiday Season soiree, were we happened to be seated at the dinner table with someone who had been on that flight as part of the crew.

Apparently when Presidents husband Mike Arroyo fell ill on board the aircraft a few hours out of Manila, the cockpit crew had to make a quick decision to reroute the flight to get Presidents husband on the ground so he could be dispatched speedily to hospital.

The pilot decided to turn back and head to Osaka Airport in Japan, which was within about three hours flying time. But President Arroyo insisted they fly on and land in Hawaii where her husband could receive the necessary treatment in the USA. And she could spend more time with him there while still keeping to her onward schedule.

But the Philippine Airlines pilot, being the commander-in-chief some 30,000 feet up in the air, overruled the Commander-in-Chief of the Philippines and decided to head for Osaka and land in Japan rather than the President’s preferred landing on American soil. - Manila Times