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Philippine Airlines to lay off 2,300 employees as part of COVID-19 recovery plan


The country’s flagship carrier, Philippine Airlines (PAL) announced on Tuesday that it is pushing through with the retrenchment of 2,300 employees or 30% of its total workforce as part of a comprehensive recovery plan bent on combating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the airline.

In a statement, PAL said that the company-wide workforce reduction program covers both voluntary separation and involuntary retrenchment. Furthermore, the company assures that the affected personnel will be employed until mid-March 2021 and will continue to receive their salaries and medical benefits until the effective date of separation.

“This has been an extremely difficult and painful decision. For our colleagues who are leaving, rest assured that we are committed to support you through this transition. We extend to you our deepest gratitude for your years of hard work and dedicated service, and we will always cherish the ties you have established with the PAL family,” said PAL president Gilbert Sta. Maria.

The retrenchment program was communicated to employees as early as October 2020, the airline said.

The announcement in October 2020 indicated that the retrenchment will take place during the 4th quarter of 2020. The airline stated that it managed to hold off job cuts “as long as possible” and ensure that its employees continued to receive salaries and benefits, particularly medical benefits, during the height of the pandemic due to a combination of temporary furloughs and flexible working arrangements managed to hold off job cuts.

According to PAL, frequent communication with employees kept them updated on the status of the company.

Business as usual

Current operations, on the other hand, will continue without disruption. This is the assurance that the flagship carrier gave to its customers and partners amid the layoffs.

“PAL will continue to gradually increase international and domestic flights as demand recovers,” it said.

“In addition to regular scheduled services, the flag carrier continues to mount special repatriation flights to help bring home stranded Filipinos from the Middle East, Europe, North America and all over Asia,” it added.

Furthermore, PAL said that it will continue operating all-cargo services to meet the essential cargo transport needs of the public and support economic supply chains. The airline also indicated that it will also be supporting the transportation of COVID-19 vaccines, once available.

A recovering industry

The flagship carrier also revealed that the retrenchment program was carried out as “part of the company’s overall recovery initiatives amid the ongoing pandemic that has massively affected the global airline industry.”

While demand for air travel slowly returns, the airline said that it is still far from pre-pandemic levels.

PAL noted that it currently operates less than 30% of its normal pre-pandemic number of weekly flights, held down by lowered travel demand and travel restrictions around the world and throughout the Philippines.

Likewise, airlines Cebu Pacific and AirAsia have also laid off employees last year as they restructured to cope with a pandemic that has largely quashed the demand for air travel.