THE WEATHER was fine but Philippine Airlines had to cancel several domestic and international flights Saturday morning because they had no pilots.

The resignation in the past two weeks of about a dozen pilots who were pirated by higher-paying foreign carriers forced PAL to cancel several 150-seater Airbus A320 flights used in both domestic and international routes.

PAL spokesperson Jonathan Gesmundo went on TV and radio to apologize to the public for the cancellation of flights from Manila to Bacolod, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu and Hong Kong.

?PAL regrets the decision of some of its pilots to accept job offers abroad, causing the disruption of PAL?s flight schedules due to inadequate flight deck crew to fly the Airbus A320 airplanes,? the company said in a statement.

PAL scored the pilots for violating their contracts, which requires them to give airline management six months to train their replacements. PAL said it would be filing appropriate charges against them.

The pilots stopped reporting for work immediately after filing their resignation letters. But it did not seem to be a group action, Gesmundo said.

He said the pilots who left PAL were mostly new hires. ?The A320 is the first jet a pilot flies after graduating from aviation school,? he said.

As a result, he said, most of the pilots still owed the company as much as P2 million each for the flight training tuition that PAL subsidized. Gesmundo added that all of the pilots promised to repay PAL what they owed.

The company said it had asked ?management pilots,? or former pilots that had been promoted to supervisory posts, to fly the A320 aircraft while the company looked for replacements.

PAL said it would adjust its schedules by merging some flights or upgrading the aircraft to a bigger type in order to lessen the inconvenience to passengers.

No link to labor row

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) sympathized with PAL management.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the PAL pilots whose resignations led to the cancellation of several flights yesterday may be liable for contract violations.

She said Philippine Airline pilots are required to give management six months? notice before resigning, a condition set by the company and the labor department a few years ago when PAL?s pilots were also poached by other airlines.

?This was for mission critical jobs ? It was extended from 30 days to six months so that PAL could find replacements,? Baldoz said.

On the other hand, Baldoz said PAL management could not prevent its workers from leaving for better salaries.

She said the resignation of the pilots did not seem to be connected to two labor cases between PAL and two of its unions.

The pilots? union, Baldoz said, had no pending case with the DOLE.

As of Friday, Baldoz said two PAL unions?one representing rank and file employees and the other standing for flight attendants and cabin crew?had agreed to meet with management for mediation hearings.

In April, then Labor Secretary Marianito Roque assumed jurisdiction over the case to prevent a strike.

Passengers stranded

The Philippine Airlines Employees Association (Palea) is urging the labor department to stop management from outsourcing jobs that would lead to the displacement of 2,600 workers.

The cancellation of flights stranded many passengers but some were sympathetic to the pilots.

Mary Ann Solano, 31, felt the pilots were only being ?practical.?

?If you want to be practical and that kind of opportunity presents itself, you should grab it,? she told the Inquirer at the predeparture area of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2. ?I understand their situation, but I cannot help but feel inconvenienced by the cancellation.?

Solano, who is pregnant, said she was going home to Silay City where she intended to give birth. Her 2 p.m. flight to Bacolod was delayed by a couple of hours.

The airline offered an option to Solano and other passengers: If they agreed to have their flights rebooked to a later date, they would get a free round-trip ticket to any local destination.

Solano said she was hassled by the incident, but took the bargain. With reports from AP, Kristine L. Alave and Miko Morelos