First Pacific’s air arm applies for permit

Business World
November 13, 2012

A COMPANY formed to manage aircraft assets of the First Pacific group has applied for a permit to operate charter flights, a document from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) showed.

“Notice is hereby given that Pacific Global One Aviation Co., Inc. has filed with the Civil Aeronautics Board a petition for issuance of Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) to operate domestic non-scheduled (air taxi) air transportation,” the CAB document read.

The hearing for the petition has been set on Nov. 22 at the CAB office in Pasay City, it added.

Pacific Global One Aviation President Rene G. Bañez, who is also Supply Chain, Asset Protection and Management Group head of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), said the CPCN is needed for the company to charge fees for the use of its aircraft.

“For many years, PLDT already had these choppers, which are being used by the MVP (Manuel V. Pangilinan) group,” Mr. Bañez said in a telephone interview yesterday, referring to the local companies under Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd.

Mr. Pangilinan, who heads PLDT as chairman, is the managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of First Pacific.

“And to do the right charging, we have to secure the right permit from the government, which is a CPCN,” Mr. Bañez said, noting that present transactions are done at “arm’s length rates.”

The group, which now has two helicopters and a fixed-wing KingAir craft, is “planning to acquire a newer chopper to replace the old one next year”, he added.

Mr. Bañez, who said Pacific Global One Aviation was formed “to cater to the aviation requirements of the MVP Group,” said the company is open to servicing other firms not part of the First Pacific group. “It depends. Principally, the intent is really to serve the aviation requirements of the group,” he said, when asked on this possibility.

“We will consider that in the future, we are looking into that.”

First Pacific controls 25.6% of PLDT; 59% of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and 31.3% of Philex Mining Corp., according to its Web site.

MPIC’s subsidiaries, meanwhile, include Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC); power distributor Manila Electric Co. (Meralco); water distributor, Maynilad Water Services, Inc.; and investments in various hospitals in the country.

Pacific Global One Aviation was incorporated last year by PLDT President and CEO Napoleon L. Nazareno, MPIC President and CEO Jose Ma. K. Lim, Meralco Chief Operating Officer Oscar S. Reyes, MPTC President and CEO Ramoncito S. Fernandez, PLDT Chief Financial Advisor Christopher H. Young, First Pacific Executive Director Robert Charles Nicholson, First Pacific Executive Vice-President and Financial Comptroller Richard L. Beacher, and Mr. Bañez.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, has a minority stake in BusinessWorld. -- Cliff Harvey C. Venzon