PAL operations normal - debunks mass-leave rumors

Philippine Airlines operations functioned normally today, negating rumors of a mass leave of absence by employees.

Not a single flight out of the 108 flights operated by PAL today was cancelled or abnormally delayed as a result of such rumors.

Ironically, the rumors circulated amid a strong rate of acceptance by employees of PAL’s maintenance and engineering division of a new job offer from Lufthansa Technik Philippines (LTP), the new owner of the unit.

Virtually the entire workforce of the flag carrier’s M&E department embraced the LTP job offer in a ringing endorsement of management’s decision last July 12 to sell the unit to LTP, a German-led joint venture affiliated with the world’s largest aircraft-maintenance concern.

Of the roughly 1,500 employees of the M&E department, only less than 20 either decided to retire or still remain undecided on the LTP job offer.

“The alleged mass leave of some PAL employees, who, incidentally, are not even M&E staff, is nothing but a rumor. If there was such action, our operations would have been paralyzed, but as you can see, everything is running smoothly,” said PAL president Avelino L. Zapanta.

He assured the riding public that the overwhelming majority of PAL employees remained supportive of management initiatives.

“The PAL family has come together to rebuild this airline into one they can be proud of. All this talk about disrupting our operations are just lies being spread by a small faction within the ground-crew union who want to see our flag carrier fail. We will not allow that to happen,” he added.

The rumors were apparently spread by a faction of the airline’s ground-crew union, which has threatened mass action to protest the sale of the M&E unit to LTP.

Zapanta said that the strong LTP take-up rate indicates that the M&E employees themselves realize that there is no truth to allegations about their job security following the recent sale of the unit.

“We are very happy with the turnout of our M&E people and their subsequent acceptance of the LTP offer. It only goes to show that they recognize the potential of working for the world’s largest player in the aircraft maintenance business,” he noted.

Last July 12, PAL and LTP signed an agreement transferring ownership of the flag carrier’s M&E unit to LTP. The two companies also signed a long-term technical service agreement under which LTP will look after the maintenance needs of PAL’s fleet for ten years.