PAL president-pilot flew PH president to ASEAN Summit
By EMMIE V. ABADILLA
Philippine Airlines (PAL) President and COO Capt. Stanley K. Ng piloted the flight that carried President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to Phnom Penh, Cambodia for the ASEAN 2022 Summit last week.
Capt. Ng was the first active pilot to serve as top executive of the flag carrier since the 1960s, having ascended to the PAL presidency after an 18-year career in the airline.
Last Wednesday, November 9, he was pilot-in-command of the PAL flight that took the country’s Commander-in-Chief in his two and a half hour journey from Manila to Cambodia's capital.
"It is an honor and a privilege for me and my crew to serve as the pilots of this Presidential flight, and I am truly grateful for the trust and confidence,” says Capt. Ng.
“We were 100 percent dedicated to making sure the President and his team had a safe and pleasant journey. This was another opportunity to be of service to the nation by flying the flag on an important mission."
The presidential flight departed at 5:15 PM on November 9 from NAIA Terminal 2.
PR001 touched down at the Phnom Penh International Airport at 6:47 PM Cambodian local time.
The President attended his first ASEAN leaders summit and met with heads of the ASEAN member states and other partner countries in Phnom Penh.
Flying home on November 13, the presidential delegation departed from Phnom Penh at 08:46 PM local time, once again with Capt. Ng and his crew in command, and arrived in Manila at 12:14 AM.
Captain Ng joined the airline in 2003 as an airport customer relations staffer afterwhich he took his Ab Initio Cadet Pilot training at the PAL aviation school.
He joined the pilot roster as a Second Officer in 2006 and rose through the ranks, eventually serving as Chief Pilot of the PAL Airbus A320/A321 fleet.
Capt. Ng joined the flag carrier's top management team as Senior Vice President of the Operations Group before his appointment to the position of President & COO in January 2022.
Philippine Airlines has been flying Philippine Presidents on overseas journeys since the first state mission carrying President Elpidio Quirino in August 1949.