The world’s biggest aircraft is set to make an appearance at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport early tomorrow morning (Tuesday) to make a very important delivery.
According to our sources, the Russian-built Antonov An-225—dubbed by some as the “aluminum overcast”—will fly to Cebu to deliver some outsized equipment (most likely power turbines) for the Lopez-controlled First Gen Corp.
Only one An-225 was ever made by the former Soviet Union, meant to ferry on its back the USSR’s version of the Space Shuttle in the 1980s. It is powered by six jet engines and has a total of 32 wheels (to distribute its weight evenly and thus prevent damaging the concrete on airport runways).
The Ukranian-registered plane also holds the world record for heaviest take off weight of a little over 253 tons. Needless to say, it is larger and heavier than either the Airbus A380 or the Boeing 747.
For a better idea on how big the An-225 is, imagine its cargo hold which has a volume of 1,300 cubic meters (6.4 meters wide, 4.4 meters high and 43.3 meters long).
The entire first flight of the Wright brothers’ “Flyer” could have been performed comfortably within the An-225’s cargo hold.
First Gen officials have confirmed that the aircraft has been hired for the delivery, but are tight-lipped on what exactly it will be delivering on its early morning flight. We’ll know by Tuesday morning. — Daxim L. Lucas
Back in Europe
As Philippine Airlines’ comeback to Europe after a 15-year absence is a key milestone, no less than Ramon S. Ang—president of San Miguel Corp. and Philippine Airlines, flew to London last week to launch the new route. He would have been accompanied by his friend Iñigo Zobel, president of PAL Express, who, however, was whisked off by Australian billionaire James Packer to shop for horses in Latin America.
Despite stiff competition in the aviation business, RSA says PAL had more to offer compared to other airlines providing flights from Manila to Europe. And to build up the market in this new, he says PAL is expected to keep its inaugural offering of around $1,000 (roundtrip economy flight Manila-London) for quite sometime. RSA estimates it will take at least a year for European operations to become profitable.
During his press interviews in London, RSA said that apart from offering the “lowest” and “most reasonable” fare to London, PAL offers the safest flight to Europe. “It’s safest because you don’t have to do double takeoffs and landings,” RSA said, referring to the nonstop flights.
Filipino hospitality and excellent food are also part of RSA’s commitment. “We serve the best food from 10 of our famous chefs in the Philippines,” he added. Being a hotel owner himself (via the Diamond group), RSA is finicky about food and recently fired PAL’s expat head chef whom he discovered to be very untidy in the kitchen.
The direct flight to London via PAL is also the fastest route, RSA said. At present, it takes about 15 hours to fly from Manila to London but once the Philippines gets a bilateral overflight permit from Russia, the nonstop flight will take only 13 hours. Doris C. Dumlao
Red carpet treatment
Given the fleet of private jets he owns, it must have been some time since San Miguel and Philippine Airlines president Ramon Ang took a regularly scheduled commercial flight.
Despite the many “inconveniences” of flying commercial, however, the tycoon made sure to be on board PAL’s inaugural direct flight from Manila to London last week, which has become, to date, the highest profile achievement of the flag carrier ever since management control was transferred to the San Miguel group.
So high profile was the London flight, in fact, that—on top of the usual meetings with UK dignitaries—Ang was interviewed by CNN’s celebrity anchor, Richard Quest, on his widely watched business news program “Quest Means Business.” (The PAL chief was probably the first Filipino to be featured on the show.)
Why is PAL’s London flight a big deal? We’re told that it’s partly because open airline slots at London’s busy Heathrow airport are extremely hard to come by, since demand is so high from airlines wanting to fly to the British capital.
How did PAL score those coveted landing slots? Well, imagine the impact of the airline’s $7-billion purchase of airplanes from Airbus, in which the UK is an equity partner. Also, consider the fact that all these jets will be outfitted with UK-made Rolls Royce engines (accounting for 50 percent of the airliners’ price tag). No surprise, then, that PAL is getting the red carpet treatment from the Brits. Daxim L. Lucas
Aboitiz goes into wine
Endika Aboitiz, former chief executive of Aboitiz Transport System, has taken a step out of the family business and embraced one of his passions: Wine.
Last week, Aboitiz led the launch of AWC Philippines, which was appointed exclusive distributor of the Clarendelle family of wines in the Philippines (considered a rapidly growing market for fine wines).
The initial line of wines introduced to the local market, specifically hotels and restaurants, are the Clarendelle Blanc 2012, Clarendelle Rouge 2006 and Clarendelle Rose 2012.
These wines were inspired by the legacy of Chateaux Haut-Brion and La Mission Haut-Brion—two of Bordeaux’s finest wines.
AWC Philippines, of which Aboitiz is president and CEO, hopes that these wines, which sell for roughly P900 to P1,200 a bottle, will find pride place in the country’s growing hospitality industry. Tina Arceo-Dumlao
Digital wave’s fine print
“If you buy lots of newspapers like the New York Times did, well, newspapers are going bankrupt now. You’re going against the tide,” said futurist and theoretical physicist Dr. Michio Kaku at an executive forum organized by the First Pacific Leadership Academy.
The tide or wave of digitalization was among the many trends discussed and pretty much related to everything from retail to healthcare.
But there’s a caveat.
“Where the tide is going is what scientists are looking at. You have to look at the fine print,” Kaku said, addressing business leaders in attendance.
A different style of wave-riding is required in specific industries and businesses, Kaku said. Finding and employing the right strategy, he said, entails creativity and a certain amount of “luck”—the outcome of a combination of technology, quality management and visionary leadership.
Interestingly, the First Pacific group’s main man in the Philippines, Manuel V. Pangilinan, has been buying up stakes in various print publications through the PLDT group. Of course, even combined, such investments are just a fraction of the First Pacific group’s total buy-in among various industries including telecommunications and infrastructure.
Perhaps MVP knows something we don’t. A refined way of riding the wave, perhaps? Riza T. Olchondra
Less stoplights needed
The new British Ambassador to the Philippines, Asif Ahmad, who was among the VIP guests aboard PAL’s inaugural flight to London last week, told visiting business reporters that he finds doing business in the Philippines a breeze—that’s when it comes to dealing with the private sector. Unlike in Europe where it takes months and months to even set up meetings with the decision-makers, Ahmad is amazed that top honchos (he specifically mentions RSA and MVP, the latter referring to First Pacific chief Manuel V. Pangilinan), were very accessible in the Philippines.
“The opposite is true if the business partner is the government,” he says, adding that the rollout of public-private partnership (PPP) leaves much room for improvement. He says the legal system in the Philippines is so slow and there may be obsession with being “too correct.” For instance, he says a foreign company, which was bidding for a PPP project, was disqualified because of a spelling mistake.
The Filipino-conversant ambassador said: “Daang Matuwid (righteous path) is a policy we absolutely support,” citing UK’s anti-bribery act, which guards against bribery in offshore businesses. “What I’m saying is if you have traffic jams and the red (stop) lights are permanent, then the daan (road) is a poor daan.” Doris C. Dumlao
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