It is a time of celebration for all Philippine Airlines cabin crew who were retrenched in February 2021. As PAL continues to make a rebound after exiting chapter 11, the airline’s cabin crew who were retrenched are slowly being recalled back to work. From the very start, I knew this day will come for all those who have rested their PAL wings more than a year ago.
As of this writing, PAL is working double time to retrain these cabin crew for them to immediately be released to the line. PAL continues to ramp up capacity as more people go on a revenge travel spree.
Fortunately, the majority of the cabin crew who were retrenched have chosen to return to the airline. Many of them have had childhood dreams of becoming a Philippine Airlines flight attendant and they will never miss a chance to regain those PAL wings.
Strong rebound
PAL continues to make a strong rebound after exiting chapter 11. The airline made a 2022 half-year net profit of $71 million. PAL also posted record profits of $1.1 billion in revenues for the first six months of 2022. Cargo revenues also increased by 31%.
PAL President and COO Capt. Stanley Ng said, “We view the positive operating results for the first half of 2022 as a demonstration of the loyal support of our Philippine Airlines customers, for which we are deeply grateful, and a validation of the efforts of our shareholders, management, and personnel to rebuild our international and domestic network amidst the strengthening recovery of air travel.”
PAL was also able to restore and even increase capacity in the United States, Australia, the Middle East, and Asia. Its only European route which is London was indefinitely suspended just this year. It is unclear if this route will be brought back, especially since the shortest route will entail flying over Russian airspace where a conflict between Ukraine is ongoing.
More cabin crew needed
As PAL continues to increase frequencies, more cabin crew are needed. For now, there is still no news on whether the airline will be hiring more flight attendants or not. The priority of PAL is to recall these cabin crew members back to flying status. The holiday season is slowly approaching and we are expecting more people to and from the Philippines. I am also expecting that the number of passengers will double this year compared to last year when restrictions and quarantine rules were in place.
The fact that PAL has now reached out to all its crew who were retrenched in 2021 is a strong indication of the airline’s fast progress. PAL hopes to reactivate these crew members within the year, before the Holiday season upsurge.
It also seems that things have lately been going in favor of PAL flight attendants. Just this year also, PAL management and the flight attendants’ union, FASAP (Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines), signed a new CBA or Collective Bargaining Agreement that provides better compensation and benefits for the cabin crew.
First love never dies. I fell in love with airplanes and aviation when I was a kid. My dream was to become a pilot, but destiny led me to another path: to be an aviation digital media content creator and a small business owner. My passion for aviation inspires me to bring you quality content through my website and social accounts. Aviation is indeed in my blood and blog!
