Billionaire Lucio Tan’s Philippine Airlines Cuts 2,300 Jobs

FILES PHOTO: This file photo taken on April 19, 2020 shows passenger planes from carrier Philippine Airlines parked on the tarmac of Manila's international airport as air travel to and from the Philippines was suspended after the government implemented a lockdown in its efforts to contain the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Philippine Airlines said late on October 5, 2020 that the flag carrier will cut a third of its workforce by yearend as it reels from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo: STR/AFP via Getty Images)

By Siegfrid Alegado

Philippine Airlines Inc., owned by billionaire Lucio Tan, said it will cut 2,300 jobs or about a third of its workforce by mid-March as it continues to take a beating from the pandemic.

“This has been an extremely difficult and painful decision,” President Gilbert Santa Maria said in a statement on Tuesday. The job cuts, first announced in October, include voluntary and involuntary separations, the company said.

Demand for air travel is “still far from pre-pandemic levels,” Philippine Air said, adding that it operates less than 30% of pre-pandemic weekly flights. Prior to the job cuts, the airline implemented furloughs and flexible working arrangements. Since March, it has suspended capital expenditures, reduced salaries, deferred lease payments and slashed expenses.

Parent PAL Holdings Inc. posted a third-quarter net loss of P7.92 billion ($164.8 million), bringing its nine-month loss to P28.85 billion.

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