Philippine Airlines on Friday said it laid off about 300 employees due to continued losses.
The Lucio Tan-led airline said it was pursuing business restructuring to increase revenues and reduce costs.
“The streamlining will strengthen the company in the wake of losses sustained in 2019, aggravated by the ongoing travel restrictions and flight suspensions to areas affected by COVID-19,” PAL said.
PAL under the program implemented a voluntary separation initiative for long-serving employees and a retrenchment process completed on February 28, resulting in the separation of about 300 ground-based administrative and management personnel.
PAL said affected employees would receive appropriate separation benefits, additional trip pass privileges and assistance in the form of career counseling and outplacement support.
“Other initiatives include revenue generation from an optimized route network and new ancillary products, more aggressive cost-management efforts, and investment in digital technology,” the airline said.
PAL added it was focusing on managing the risks related to the COVID-19 situation, in the interest of public health and safety.
“In fulfillment of its flag carrier duties, PAL has assisted in bringing home Filipinos from affected areas via recent repatriation flights from Xiamen and Tokyo,” PAL said.
“The flag carrier will continue to take delivery of additional aircraft for regional flights, and is gearing up to launch new Cebu-Los Angeles nonstop flights and routes to Perth, Pagadian, Kota Kinabalu and Manado,” it added.
PAL Holdings Inc., PAL’s parent firm, earlier reported a net loss of P7.86 billion in the first nine months of 2019, up 139 percent from a total comprehensive loss of P3.29 billion in 2018.
Consolidated revenues in the January-to-September period amounted to P117.92 billion, up 5.6 percent from P111.62 billion on year.
PAL Holding’s consolidated operating expenses rose 2.2 percent to P117.13 billion from last year’s P114.67 billion.