PAL cancels 8 domestic flights, rushes to adjust schedules

Still limped by the sudden departure of some of its pilots, flag carrier Philippine Airlines continued to rush for flight-schedule adjustments, even as it canceled flights to at least four provinces Sunday. A report on dzBB radio Sunday morning said the eight affected flights are: * PR-181 and 182, to and from Cagayan * PR-847 and 848, to and from Cebu * PR-133 and 134, to and from Bacolod * PR-147 and 148, to and from Iloilo But PAL spokesman Jonathan Gesmundo said they are preparing legal action against the pilots, who suddenly left the company to seek other airlines with higher pay. He said the pilots have violated not only PAL rules but also those of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). “Yan ang pag-uusapan sa Lunes kasi dalawa ang na-violate nila. Una, meron kaming usapan sa mga piloto na dapat ibalik nila sa pamamagitan ng serbisyo nila ang training na ipinagkaloob sa kanila, merong takdang panahon na mamalagi sa amin. Ang ikinasasama ng loob namin ay ang pag-alis nila... makikinabang nang mabuti ang kanilang paglilipatan kasi fully trained sila," Gesmundo said in an interview on dzBB radio. (We will thresh things out on Monday because the pilots who left us have violated two regulations. First, they breached an agreement that they will stay with us for a specified time as the firm’s compensation for training them. Now it is their new employers who will benefit from the training.) The second violation is against POEA regulations, where a worker departing for abroad must notify the company six months before they quit so their replacement could be given necessary training, he said. “Matuturing silang OFW, anim na buwan ang nakatakdang panahon ang ibibigay ng paalis na OFW (They are considered overseas Filipino workers so they should have given advance notice, at least six months before leaving)," he said. But when asked when the flights schedules would normalize, Gesmundo could not give a straight answer, saying they are still looking for solutions. For now, he said they can only notify passengers of changes in flight schedules as soon as they make adjustments. He said PAL also expects to meet Monday with representatives from the Labor and Transportation Departments, which President Aquino ordered to thresh out the problem with PAL. In the meantime, he said domestic flights to at least four areas remain affected as of Sunday. These include Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Bacolod, and Iloilo. But he said international flights to Hong Kong, which were affected Saturday, was back to normal as of Sunday. Gesmundo said PAL is still adjusting flight schedules and moving passengers in the affected flights. He said that while “less than a dozen" pilots suddenly left, PAL has some 500 pilots in its fleet. At least one-third of the 500 are available at any given time, he said. “Hahanapan ng oras, ia-adjust ang schedules ng piloto. Ilan ang pilotong available, saan pwede i-deploy or i-assign (We will look for available pilots and adjust their schedules)," he said.— LBG, GMANews.TV