Billionaire Lucio Tan will take over as the interim president of Philippine Airlines effective immediately.
PAL executive vice president, treasurer and chief administrative officer Vivienne Tan said her father Lucio Tan, concurrently the chairman of the flag carrier, decided to assume the company’s top post pending the approval by the board of directors of the candidates for president.
Vivienne Tan will assist his father in the airline’s day-to-day operations.
“Our goal is to ensure an orderly and seamless transition of leadership to ensure that our mandate to serve the traveling public is achieved. Thus, it is in the best interest of PAL and its stakeholders for my father and I to work together pending the turnover of day to day operations to the next PAL president and chief operating officer,” she said.
The board of PAL approved on June 24 Vivienne Tan’s appointment as the airline’s officer-in-charge following the retirement of then PAL president Jaime Bautista on June 30.
Following Lucio Tan’s decision to sit as interim PAL president, Vivienne Tan would remain the company’s EVP/treasurer and chief administrative officer.
PAL management also appointed two key executives who will lead the airline’s commercial and human resources groups, signaling the start of the flag carrier’s transition to new leadership.
Rosemarie Katalbas was appointed as senior vice president of the human capital department and Eugene Go as chief commercial and marketing officer.
PAL’s parent firm, PAL Holdings Inc. earlier reported a net loss of P60.81 million in the first three months of 2019, an improvement from the P201.63-million loss in the same period last year.
Consolidated revenues in the first quarter rose 7.2 percent to P39.27 billion from P36.62 billion a year ago.
PAL flies to 43 international and 35 domestic destinations using 95 aircraft, one of the youngest fleets in the industry with an average age of just five years.
ANA HD, the Japanese parent company of All Nippon Airways, earlier invested $95 million for a 9.5-percent stake in PAL Holdings.
ANA HD acquired the shares from Trustmark Holdings Corp., which is owned by the Tan family.
