The Philippine Airlines (PAL) on Monday announced its plans to cut up to 35 percent, more than 7,000 workers "as part of a larger restructuring and recovery plan" to curtail losses brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.
Already, the PAL said it has begun to call on employees to apply for voluntary separation, which is the first stage of the company's manpower reduction initiative.
"The retrenchment is part of a larger restructuring and recovery plan as the flag carrier rebuilds its domestic and international network amid the global pandemic," the PAL said in a statement.
The PAL said the retrenchment program will combine voluntary and involuntary measures, to be carried out within the current fourth quarter of 2020.
"At the height of the pandemic, PAL chose to implement temporary furloughs and flexible working arrangements to maintain jobs as long as possible," it said.
However, the airline said, "the collapse in travel demand and persistent travel restrictions on most global and domestic routes have made retrenchment inevitable, with PAL currently operating less than 15 percent of its normal number of daily flights after eight months of lockdowns."
The PAL assured the employees "that measures will be carried out in a fair manner that complies with all legal requirements and with support for outplacement assistance."
In July, the PAL reported losses of 183.1 million U.S. dollars for the first quarter of 2020 due to the "severe" impact of the pandemic.
The PAL said it has also suspended capital expenditures, which are mainly for the acquisition of new aircraft. It also put in place a skeletal workforce and reduced management salaries and non-essential expenses.
The Philippines imposed in mid-March a lockdown in the entire main island of Luzon to slow down the spread of the coronavirus. Other provinces in the central and southern Philippines also imposed a lockdown.
The lockdown forced airport closures, leading to the suspensions of all incoming and outgoing flights, except for international and domestic sweeper flights to repatriates foreigners out of the Philippines and to brings in Filipinos from abroad. ■