Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE
Four senior executives at Cathay Pacific Airways have quit to form a new management consultancy that will try to save struggling Philippine Airlines from collapse.
The executives are Peter Foster, formerly Cathay's general manager for Taiwan and the Philippines, who will become chief company adviser; Michael Scantlebury, an aircraft financing executive at Cathay parent Swire Pacific, who will be senior financial adviser; Andrew Fyfe, in charge of ground services for Cathay in Germany, who will be senior adviser, ground services and training and Richard Wald, head of maintenance for Cathay in France, who will now be senior adviser, maintenance and engineering.
All four were involved in Cathay's due diligence procedure during aborted negotiations late last year to form a strategic partnership with PAL. They have now become partners in the newly formed consultancy Regent Star Services, based in Hong Kong, and are expected to be joined by an unnamed fifth executive who will be responsible for the commercial and marketing side.
PAL says its board and the government-appointed Interim Rehabilitation Receiver have approved a five-year technical services agreement with Regent Star. According to a Hong Kong-based airline analyst, the company is being hired by PAL's major shareholder, tobacco magnate Lucio Tan, and the partners are being offered "substantial incentives" to revive the carrier's fortunes.
The team's rescue bid is being carried out through the newly formed consultancy because local Philippine law prevents foreigners being appointed as senior executives of the national flag carrier.
The announcement was expected to be followed within 48 hours by an injection of capital into PAL from its shareholders, according to a statement by Foster.
After talks with Cathay collapsed, PAL submitted its own rehabilitation plan to the local Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), whose chairman, Perfecto Yassay, warned that the airline would be shut down permanently if the plan was inadequate. Before the Regent Star deal was announced, the proposal was rejected by many of PAL's creditors, who said it still required a strategic partner.
Source: Flight International
