New Philippine Airlines President Will Battle Budget Carriers’ Agility
Photo Credit: PAL chairman Lucio C. Tan (left) congratulates the airline’s new president and chief operating officer, Gilbert Santa Maria. Philippine Airlines.
Skift Take
No doubt Philippine Airlines' call centers will be more cost-efficient and friendly, given its new president's extensive background on this. But it will take more than that to beat those agile low-cost carriers.
The new president and chief operating officer of Philippine Airlines, Gilbert Santa Maria, named to the role on Monday will have to navigate an extremely competitive airline industry at home and abroad with low-cost carriers threatening dominance.
The airline (PAL), the first to be established in Asia, now struggles to turn a profit, having purchased new fuel-efficient aircraft as part of efforts to expand its route network. It has, however, managed to trim losses. PAL Holdings recorded a net loss of $83.3 million last year, down from a loss of $141 million in 2017.
PAL’s domestic operations are being clobbered by the savvy marketing strategies of main competitor Cebu Pacific Air, owned by another Filipino-Chinese tycoon, John Gokongwei, but run by his young son, Lance.
PAL is owned by Lucio C. Tan, its 85-year-old chairman and CEO.
From January to March, PAL and its low-cost subsidiary PAL Express flew only 2.17 million pass
