National air carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) had to cancel 11 flights Saturday after several Airbus A320 pilots left for jobs abroad. Reports said at least 13 local and five international flights were also delayed as a result of the flight cancellations. The latest aviation incident came after the recent suspension of some domestic and international flights at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport due to defective navigational equipment. PAL spokesman Jonathan Gesmundo went on TV and radio stations Saturday to apologize to the public for the cancellations, which he said were caused by the sudden departure of nearly dozen pilots for better-paying jobs overseas. He said the problem was caused by a “brain drain” - the decamping of professionals, including teachers and nurses, for better jobs abroad - that has long plagued the nation. About 10 percent of the population of 94 million works abroad, sending home the money that provides the bloodline for the economy. Gesmundo said the pilots did not inform the management, but that this was not a group action. “In the past few days, pilots had not been reporting for duty. This has caused problems for us,” Gesmundo said. PAL said in a statement it will be filing appropriate charges against the pilots “who chose not to report for work immediately after submitting resignation letters. Most of the pilots still owe PAL the cost of their aviation school training, which run into millions of pesos per pilot. “The indiscriminate resignation of the A320 pilots for flying jobs whose salaries PAL is unable to match, is in violation of their contracts with PAL as well as with pertinent government regulations that require resigning pilots to give PAL six months to train their replacements,” it said. Gesmundo said the airline was adjusting its schedule and will probably bring in bigger aircraft to accommodate the stranded passengers. The indebted flag carrier has said it would lay off some of its 8,000-strong work force because of financial losses in the third straight year. He said PAL is adjusting its flight schedules and expects the situation to normalize “in few days.” In the radio interview, Gesmundo said the pilots' resignations had nothing to do with the PAL management's ongoing labor dispute with the Philippine Airlines Employees' Association (PALEA). The union, he explained, only consist of “ground” personnel. He said the pilots left PAL because they were pirated by foreign-owned airlines that offered them huge salaries “that we cannot match.” PAL. he said, is thinking of temporarily grounding some of its A320 aircraft and that it would take “several months” before PAL could train other pilots to fly the A320 aircraft.
