CEBU Pacific airlines (CebPac) executives yesterday pointed to engine and supply chain issues that held up the global aviation industry for its numerous flight disruptions which have been the subject of passenger complaints in recent months.
The Senate Committee on Tourism, chaired by Sen. Nancy Binay, yesterday opened its inquiry into Senate Resolution No. (SRN) 575 which called for an inquiry, in aid of legislation, into passenger grievances against Cebu Pacific for overbooking, offloading, and booking glitches in April.
Binay, who said her office monitored more than 3,000 complaints against CebPac posted on social media sites, urged the airline management to shape up and address the complaints for the convenience of the riding public and to help boost the country’s tourism following the slump in tourist arrivals at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Binay said flight disruption complaints also affected other local and international airlines operating in the country.
“We have since seen it fit to invite our other airlines to this hearing because these problems, it seemed, have only grown in number,” she said, adding “it is imperative” for the government to ensure that the Air Passenger Bill of Rights is strictly implemented.
Binay said social media posts showed an array of complaints against CebPac, ranging from offloading without offering alternative flight options or compensation for being charged multiple times during the airline’s Super Pass sale “even when bookings were unsuccessful.”
“The airline also keeps on changing its flight schedules as complained by individuals on social media platforms such as Facebook. Affected passengers complained that Cebu Pacific has not provided immediate assistance and support regarding their concerns despite seeking help from the airline’s customer service hotlines and in-person desks,” Binay said.
CebPac president and chief commercial officer Alexander Lao apologized to the senators and to the public for the inconvenience brought about by the issues involving the airline.
“We express our sincerest apologies to our passengers for the disruptions and assure you that we are committed to resolving these challenges. We value the trust and confidence of our passengers and are committed to providing safe, affordable, and reliable flights,” Lao said during the committee hearing.
Lao said the airline has already put in place measures “to enhance our operations and assist affected customers, such as activating a disruption management team, increase live chat agents to take passenger concerns, and improve policies and processes for disruption handling and communication.”
Lao said that as early as March this year, “we began to feel the industry challenge and its effects from April onwards.”
He was referring to the engine and supply chain issues that affected the global aviation industry, specifically when the industry experienced problems with Pratt and Whitney (PW) engines, which powers Airbus A321/A320 NEO aircraft.
“The PW engines are experiencing premature removal from service and each engine restoration requires 220 days instead of the industry norm of 90 days… More than 120 aircraft worldwide are currently grounded due to this issue. Cebu Pacific has already encountered 12 unscheduled engine removals this year and had to ground three Airbus A321/A320 NEO indefinitely since middle of March,” Lao said.
He noted that Go First, an Indian airline company, went bankrupt last month “blaming PW for failing to provide necessary engines, leading to substantial portion of their fleet being grounded.”
Lao said the shortage of aircraft was worsened by delays in Airbus deliveries.
“These delivery delays necessitate changes to our flight schedules, including flight cancellations and equipment changes from larger to smaller aircraft which may cause some passengers to be disrupted and cause the perception of overbooking. Rather than cancelling a flight, the use of smaller aircraft allows us to still bring as many customers as possible to their destination and lessen the number of disrupted passengers,” he said.
He also said supply chain issues have become “increasingly prominent” which has led to extended recovery periods for aircraft on ground.
“All of these impact the number of aircraft available to fly our planned schedule,” he added.
He said other factors which affected their flights include damage to the ground from runway debris, unexpected severe weather conditions, bird strikes, burst aircraft tire upon landing, and damage from a towing incident by CebPac’s contracted maintenance provider.
“These are the realities that frame Cebu Pacific’s current operations, and we are taking all possible steps to address the issues that are global in impact, such as reducing flight schedules, acquiring additional aircraft for greater resilience and enhancing our customer care and recovery policy,” he said.
At the House, Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said Congress needs to suspend the Cebu Pacific franchise for its “lousy, terrible” service to the public.
“A congressional franchise is a privilege that should not be used and enjoyed at the expense of the public. Congress should temporarily withdraw such privilege from Cebu Pacific until such time that it can provide satisfactory service to the riding public,” he said, adding that he, too, has been receiving many complaints from aggrieved passengers, including those from Cagayan de Oro City and other parts of Mindanao.
Even if the Gokongwei-owned airline’s claim that the deterioration of its service by 50 percent was due to spare parts and maintenance issues is true, the administration lawmaker said the public should not be getting the short end of the stick.
“Even if that is true, that’s their own lookout. The public should not be made to suffer for their inefficiency. But to me, that is just palusot (alibi). The issue is not about the availability of spare parts or maintenance but Cebu Pacific selling plane tickets when they don’t have the necessary aircraft to carry passengers for whatever reason. They should stop selling tickets, period!” he said.
“The airline says, ‘Every Juan can fly.’ I say with their kind of deteriorated service, every Juan cannot fly,” Rodriguez added.
Also yesterday, Makabayan bloc lawmakers filed House Resolution No. 1093 seeking a House probe into the complaints against Cebu Pacific’s offloading and booking glitches “causing undue inconvenience and distress.”
The militant lawmakers said Cebu Pacific should be held accountable for its actions and should be made to “prioritize the welfare and safety of its customers over profit maximization.”
“Poor customer service and lack of accountability in the airline industry have become a growing concern, with passengers being offloaded without valid reasons nor compensation, and being charged multiple times for unsuccessful bookings,” said the resolution filed by party-list Reps. Arlene Brosas of Gabriela, France Castro of ACT and Raoul Manuel of Kabataan.
During the hearing, Binay expressed suspicions that overbooking, which is a global industry-wide practice, has become an industry “modus,” noting that airlines “cancel” flights and leave passengers with the option to either rebook the flight or seek a refund.
As defined under the Joint DOTC-DTI Administrative Order No. 01 (Air Passenger Bill of Rights or APBR), overbooking is the practice of airlines of selling confirmed reserve space beyond the actual seat capacity of an aircraft.
It is a deliberate industry-wide business practice where airlines are allowed to sell 10 percent more tickets than the number of seats available for a particular flight. From the industry standard of 10 percent, CAB has set a 5 percent allowable overbooking to optimize utility and avoid empty seats.
Carmelo Arcilla, Civil Aeronautics Board executive director, said the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) recognizes overbooking as an air carrier’s tool to achieve optimum operating results.
He said the practice of selling more seats than available and helps keep fares down since it allows air carriers to maximize their revenues and generate as much profit as they can.
“Current rules under the APBR recognizes, but not encourages, overbooking. While the APBR did not set a limit to the percentage of overbooking that an airline may practice, it imposes an effective counterweight to prevent abuse of overbooking,” Arcilla said.
He said the duties of an airline on overbooking include determining the number of passengers in excess of the actual seat capacity of the aircraft and announcing that the flight is overbooked and that it is looking for volunteers willing to give up their seats in exchange for compensation which are stated in a list that they should provide.
In case the number of volunteers is not enough to resolve the overbooking, Arcilla said airlines shall then increase the compensation package by certain degrees or by adding more amenities/services until the required number of volunteers is met.
Arcilla said CAB will continue to monitor overbooking and other acts of denial of boarding to ensure that passengers are not unduly inconvenienced and shortchanged in their dealings with the airlines.
Sen. Grace Poe, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Public Services, called on the government to implement tougher policies on air passenger rights to address cancellations and delays in flights of local air carriers besetting travelers.
She reminded CebPac and the other local airlines to comply with their duties and responsibilities when they were granted franchises, including the reportorial requirements which will list their activities, expansion programs, and other developments.
Poe noted that complaints of cancellations have also increased against Philippine Airlines, which was compounded by the confusion of new terminal assignments.
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte called on the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) to put on hold its newly implemented reassignment of airlines at the four major airports, “pending a rethink of the program that has apparently exacerbated, rather than eased, passenger congestion at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) terminals.”
With passenger queues reportedly getting even longer at the NAIA departure areas, the lawmaker said airport officials need to take a pause on their Schedule and Terminal Assignment Rationalization (STAR) program, which was meant to ease the nagging airport congestion that has for long inconvenienced passengers and tourists.
“While we commend the MIAA for taking steps to address this airport-congestion pickle that has given a blackeye to our air transport and tourism sectors, it needs to return to the status quo on airline assignments at the four NAIA terminals until such time it has finished reviewing and tweaking its new STAR program with an eye to finally improving the airport experience for both local and foreign air travelers,” he said.
The airline reassignments are part of the STAR program, which MIAA launched on April 16 to ease airport congestion. Under the program, MIAA estimates the capacity of Terminal 2 to increase from 7.5 million to 10 million passengers a year.
However, congestion took a turn for the worse, especially at the NAIA Terminal 1 last week, as MIAA began transferring there all of PAL’s international flights that were previously assigned to NAIA Terminal 2.
Poe likewise scored the CAB for apparently being lax in issuing permits to operate.
“CAB should not grant permission to airlines to operate without the submissions to Congress… We also have to look into the Air Passenger Bill of Rights and see the Consumer Protection Bill will actually cover all of that. Again, I agree that government should not really overregulate, we have to give our businesses a chance to be able to self-regulate. However, again if the consumers are affected, we really have to step in,” she said.
The Department of Tourism (DOT) said: “We do believe that the hitches that the air transport riding public currently experiencing is something that can be resolved, given that the practices of our domestic airline industry in largely in unison with those of international standards.”
“Tourism is a whole-of-nation approach and thus requires a consensual understanding from the different sectors of society on how we could more harmoniously move together toward the development of a progressive tourism and travel industry,” it added in a statement. — with Wendell Vigilia