Gokongwei airline prepares aggressive hiring plan

INQUIRER.net photo

MANILA  -Cebu Pacific has outlined aggressive hiring plans for thousands of pilots, aircraft mechanics and cabin crew in the next few years ahead of a record $12-billion order for new planes.

Preparations involve firming up partnerships with domestic flight schools and potentially investing directly in these institutions as the carrier expects to hire around 1,500 new pilots to fly over 100 new planes arriving in the next decade.

“Our focus is making sure we’re ahead of the curve and ahead of our aircraft numbers,” Cebu Pacific CEO Michael Szucs said in an interview with Inquirer editors and reporters on Tuesday.

“This is a lot of people we need to bring in,” he added.

Cebu Pacific, which has more than 4,000 employees—including about 900 pilots—has a request for proposal from domestic schools to hire pilots for its near-term fleet requirements.

But Szucs said they recognize the need for the long-term supply of skilled flight crew, which coincides with an ongoing global pilot shortage.

“We need to start thinking about that in terms of how do we ensure the supply of pilots, mechanics and cabin crew,” he said.

“There are academies out there we can work with or we could choose to invest in ourselves,” Szucs said.

Cebu Pacific is finalizing bidding terms for 100-150 new planes from European industrial giant Airbus and US planemaker Boeing that would be delivered in phases starting as early as 2027.

Airport privatization

Szucs said their strong conviction to expand was also driven by the planned privatization of Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport and conglomerate San Miguel Corp.’s (SMC) P740-billion New Manila International Airport in Bulacan, a province located north of Metro Manila.

“In the short term and medium-term you are going to see privatization of [Naia], which is going to improve the efficiency, improve the number of [flight] movements so you are going to get some growth,” he said.

Cebu Pacific is also aiming to be the largest carrier operating in the New Manila International Airport, which SMC said would begin servicing flights by 2026.

Szucs said there were ongoing talks with SMC on their design requirements for the new international gateway.

“We would anticipate we will be the largest resident in Bulacan [airport] so we want to make sure we are working with them,” Szucs said. INQ