CX shrinks seats as PAL upgrades cabin amenities
Hong Kong-and Manila-bound travelers taking Cathay Pacific flights over Philippine Airlines will have a shrinking feeling, literally.
Starting next month, Cathay Pacific, the acknowledged but bleeding industry leader in this part of the world, will field re-configured planes with narrower economy seats in Manila-HK and other busy regional routes.
According to Hong Kong media and industry reports, the five-star carrier is shrinking coach seats in its Boeing 777s by nearly an inch, down to 17.2 inches from 18.1 inches.
In contrast, PAL since last year has upgraded its Airbus A330-300s fielded on the Manila-Hong Kong route with 18-inch width seats, almost an inch roomier than CX’s new seat standard.
As well, PAL’s economy seats have bottom cushions that move forward when reclining for added comfort. The seat pitch, or legroom, is 32 inches, similar to CX’s.
But the narrowing, if not reversed, differences between the two regional carriers have apparently not washed over to their fare structures, with Cathay Pacific still charging a considerable premium over the Philippine flag carrier.
A check with the website Flight Scanner over the weekend showed Cathay Pacific quoting P10,561 for its lowest return economy fare for Manila-Hong Kong on June 1-June 4 weekend, compared with PAL’s P7,961.
The price variance gets even wider during the long Independence Day weekend, June 8-12, with CX’s lowest quoted fare at P13,681 against PAL’s P10,301.
The slimmer seats on Cathay Pacific’s Boeing 777 aircraft will feature bigger TV screens and in-flight WiFi, amenities that PAL has also been rolling out on its new Airbus A321neo planes serving regional routes.
The move is expected to add HK$700 million (US$89.7 million) to Cathay’s bottom line annually when its refit, squeezing more seats into each plane, is completed, helping the carrier recover from two years of back-to-back losses totaling more than HK$1.8 billion, the South China Morning Post reported.
PAL’s four-star category, meanwhile, should notch up incrementally higher when it starts getting delivery of the six Airbus 350 extra-wide body jets for its non-stop Manila-New York and other North American routes.
The first A350, which will also have 1-2-1 businessclass seat layout similar to PAL’s A330s, is scheduled to be handed over to the flag carrier on a most auspicious day, July 14, Bastille Day.
Double your salary in two years
This is not an investment scam or a get-rich-quick-scheme.
This double-your-pay plan is what actually has happened over at the Philippine Bank of Communications, aka the owner of the tallest building in the country.
According to regulatory disclosures, the combined compensation of chief executive Patricia May Siy and four highest PBCom executives doubled in two years since Siy, formerly chief corporate planning officer for Travelers International and Rustans Supercenters, assumed the presidency in mid-2015.
From only P34.4 million in 2015, the combined pay envelopes of Siy and her senior team, admittedly starting from a low base, had ratcheted to P68.9 million by 2017.
In return, PBCom’s net income vaulted to P718.7 million in 2017 from P203.7 million in 2015, representing an over three-fold increase.
What is even more remarkable is that the majority owners of PBCom, Lucio and Susan Co of the Puregold retail empire, had not given themselves any pay raise within those two years, making do with P14.5 million combined annual compensation.
And that P14.5 million pie is even shared with their Puregold president, son Ferdinand, and two other executives.
For 2018, the Puregold senior management team can expect a (coin) purse-busting P140,000 increase, to be divvied up among the five of them.
Heard through the grapevine
The personal Facebook account of Andres Bautista, who has gone offline after refusing to return to the Philippines and face the Senate, is now peppered with photos of Filipino-Taiwanese businessman Elton See Tan.
Supposedly suffering ill-health, Bautista last showed himself in Facebook celebrating Maundy Thursday in a famed Oklahoma City steakhouse and bar.