‘Piloting PAL towards a new horizon’
As a student at St. Stephen’s, Philippine Airlines’ new president Capt. Stanley K. Ng’s dream was to become a pilot. Now, as president of Asia’s first airline, he says, “In my new role, I will be piloting PAL towards a new horizon.”
“I wanted to be a pilot when I was in high school. I was fond of playing (video) games during my free time and friends noticed my dexterity,” recalled Ng during the 81st-anniversary celebration of the nation’s flag carrier at the Century Park Hotel in Makati. His dexterity and coordination at the controls made his friends suggest, “Why don’t you become a pilot?”
And he took their suggestions to heart — and to the sky.
After graduating from the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, with a degree in Business Administration, major in Computer Applications, Ng trained to be a pilot at the PAL Aviation School. He joined PAL’s Boeing 747 fleet as second officer in 2006 and became first officer of the Airbus Widebody in 2008.
In 2015, he became captain of the ship, so to speak, as captain for the Airbus Narrowbody in 2018.
After becoming chief flight instructor in 2017, Ng became PAL deputy chief pilot, then chief pilot, of the Airbus Narrowbody.
He was promoted to PAL senior vice president for airline operations in 2019, and appointed president and COO on Jan. 31, 2022.
“I’ve been a customer service agent at the airport, a captain on the Airbus A320/A321 fleet, the head of PAL’s Operations Group for the last three years … and now I’m doing the task of a lifetime. However, I’ll always be a pilot,” Ng said.
Thus during his speech, he became emotional at one point, when he thanked all PAL employees, since he has been a PAL employee himself for the last 20 years (a “lifer.”)
“This new life for PAL is a sacred trust, and we take this responsibility very seriously.
“We owe it to our PAL employees, who gave up a lot in terms of pay, family time and personal risk, but whose tremendous volunteerism and team spirit kept PAL in the air. I am very proud of the people of Philippine Airlines,” Ng said with a catch in his throat.
When I asked him about that heartfelt moment later, he said, “I know what happened back then (during the lockdown) and it was painful — the retrenchments, everything. And I had to communicate with them. It was really painful.”
But PAL is an airline reborn, and Ng has a steady grip on the controls, just like the Airbus pilot that he is. “After 81 years of service, PAL is a flag carrier reborn to seize the future,” he stressed. He announced that PAL is adding more than 1,500 flights this March, a 52-percent increase system-wide.
For its international network, PAL’s summer schedule will cover 39 international destinations across 20 countries globally and over 1,000 more destinations through codeshare alliances and partnerships — more flights to and from the Philippines than any other airline.
And PAL’s birthday blowout?
“PAL is happy to announce our 81st Anniversary Seat Sale to celebrate our birthday and welcome back more travelers on our planes,” Ng shared.
With the guidance of PAL chairman Kapitan Lucio C. Tan, Captain Ng is poised to take PAL on another takeoff. After all, that’s one skill he has mastered, and has accomplished — again and again and again.
Call of duty, love of country
A summa cum laude graduate from Stanford University with a double degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, PAL director Lucio Tan III or LT III, a millennial with matinee idol good looks, reflects the new flight plan of Asia’s first airline.
“PAL is new because we have begun transforming into a 21st-century airline,” said the Tan scion, 29, who lived in the US for 14 years before answering the call of duty and returning to the Philippines. He knew that someday, he would return to the Philippines and help shape the future of PAL, “But not this early.”
“I was working as a software engineer in the States. And what I initially planned to do next, steps wise, was trying to start my own company, a tech company in the US with a bunch of friends, acquaintances. Coming back was probably further along the timeline. It was definitely there somewhere.”
But now that he is back, LT III is here, “for the long-haul.”
Is there pressure being LT III?
“There’s definitely (pressure). You know, I’d be lying if I said there was absolutely no pressure. And at the end of the day, success is never achieved overnight, right? It always takes — it’s always a day-by-day process. I basically just try to focus on one decision at a time, to stay true to principles for each decision, and it helps me sleep better at night, knowing that I was true to my principles for the entire day. Just take things one step at a time.” Those principles reflect those of his grandfather, who believes that PAL has always been about the Filipino and the Philippines.
“Our Kapitan Lucio Tan, my grandfather, is now on his 29th year as chairman and CEO of PAL, the airline’s longest-serving leader, and his commitment to the survival, recovery and resurgence of PAL is undiminished. He demonstrated that commitment by injecting stopgap emergency funds to keep PAL flying during the worst months of the pandemic. He followed through by infusing fresh capital to give the flag carrier a new lease on life,” LT III said in his opening speech.
“We will adopt a youthful outlook and will no longer be tied to the old traditional airline models that run on legacy systems and the comfortable notions of the past.”
“So we’re not just marking a milestone, we’re celebrating a rebirth. In overcoming the pandemic, we have created a new Philippine Airlines.”
He fielded questions about the airline deftly, but met with an unexpected detour in the media’s line of questioning: What is his ideal woman? (From his grandmother Carmen, he learned not just the value of family but good health, he said.)
“Someone who values family as well,” he smiled. “You know, that would be very important. Someone who I feel like I can gain energy around speaking to, rather than (be) draining.
Ladies, the line forms to the right.
(You may e-mail me at joanneraeramirez @yahoo.com. Follow me on Instagram @joanneraeramirez.)
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