8 PAL flights canceled  

MANILA, Philippines — Eight international flights of Philippine Airlines from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 were canceled yesterday as the flag carrier explained that it was due to the grounding of several PAL aircraft.

The eight flights were PR 382 (Manila-Canton), PR 318 (Manila-Hong Kong), PR 408 (Manila-Kansai), PR 501 (Manila-Singapore), PR 740 (Manila-Bangkok), PR 110 (Manila-Guam), PR 432 (Manila-Narita) and PR 426 (Manila-Fukuoka).

Passengers of these flights were accommodated on the next available flights, rerouted or refunded, or tickets were converted to travel vouchers.

“We have one flight for Guam, Canton and Kansai, but we have other flights to accommodate passengers on the next available flights to Bangkok, Hong Kong, Narita, Fukuoka and Singapore,” PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said.

Villaluna added that several aircraft had to undergo maintenance due to ongoing supply chain delays and unexpected technical issues that had developed.

“We are taking these precautions in the interest of safety, which is always our highest priority,” she said.

“We sincerely apologize to our passengers affected by several flight cancellations that we experienced,” she added.

In light of the flight cancellations, PAL has finalized a purchase agreement with Airbus for nine A350-1000 long-range aircraft.

The agreement was signed during the Paris Air Show by PAL president and chief operating officer Capt. Stanley Ng and Airbus chief commercial officer and head of international Christian Scherer in the presence of PAL Holdings Inc. president Lucio Tan III, and will be completed and delivered within 17 months.

At present, PAL has 69 aircraft in its fleet.

“Prior to the pandemic, we had 98 planes. The nine brand new orders will bring the fleet count to close to 80. That will address the current need for more planes and widen our flight route network,” Villaluna said.

Meanwhile, Cebu Pacific Air spokesperson Carmina Romero said Cebu Pacific acknowledges the difficulties and frustrations that its passengers have been experiencing lately, primarily driven by fleet availability issues affecting the global aviation industry, along with specific environmental factors.

“We empathize with our passengers and we sincerely regret the inconvenience that we have caused,” Romero said.

“To address these concerns, we have put in place initiatives to mitigate the situation,” she added.

For heightened customer care and recovery, the airline has activated a disruption management team to augment its ground staff and help passengers during unexpected events.

“Additionally, Cebu Pacific has expanded its customer service capabilities by increasing the number of live agents who can assist our customers around the clock,” Romero said. “We also refined our policies to give our customers more options beyond what is required by the Air Passenger Bill of Rights.”

PAL vice president for legal affairs Ma. Clara de Castro said the airline is experiencing an increase in the number of aircraft undergoing preventive maintenance, most of which are unscheduled – at a time when travel is at its peak.

“No excuses, we are fully aware of inconvenience, and we are extending our sincerest apology to the public,” Castro added.

CAB execs hit

Amid these developments, senators yesterday scolded officials of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) who were negligent in their jobs of regulating the operations of airline companies, particularly reports of overbooking, offloading and booking glitches at the expense of air passengers.

During the Senate committee on tourism’s public hearing on passengers’ complaints against airlines for overbooking, offloading and booking glitches, chair Sen. Nancy Binay said about 3,000 complaints have been posted on social media.

“We have since seen it fit to invite our other airlines to this hearing because these problems, it seemed, have only grown in number. In fact, when my office was compiling complaints from social media, at least 3,000 complaints came up in our search,” Binay added.

Present at the public hearing were officials of the CAB; airline companies PAL, Cebu Pacific and Air Asia and other representatives from government agencies, including the Departments of Tourism, Transportation and Justice.– Cecille Suerte Felipe