PAL president Jaime Bautista said the pilots to be hired starting this year until 2012 will man the additional aircraft that will be delivered beginning this month.
He said from this year until 2008, the airline expects 20 more Airbus A320s and Airbus A319s.
"For this month and in May 3, we expect the arrival of four Airbus A319 aircraft," Bautista added.
Bautista said they decided to increase the pilots they trained from 15 last year to 40 this year to augment their forces.
At present PAL has 450 pilots and 1,300 cabin crew members.
On the other hand, Bautista said since they implemented a new strategy by raising the compensation being given to their pilots and so far none of them have decided to leave and transfer to other airlines, particularly foreign airlines, which have been luring many Filipinos pilots by offering high salaries and other incentives to the pilots and their families.
The Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) earlier declared the commercial pilot sector as "mission critical" because many pilots are transferring to foreign airlines because of higher salaries and benefits offered to them. (MSN/Sunnex)
