Nuttall returns not as the young adviser brought in during the midst of PAL’s first financial crisis in the late 1990s, but as a seasoned global veteran and the first foreign president in the airline’s 84-year history.
It’s not like the 59-year-old aviation executive has unfinished business at the Philippine flag carrier.
The airline is profitable and is a leaner organization after emerging from its bankruptcy during the recent pandemic.
But its present stability does not mean smooth skies ahead, as PAL, like many other industry players, navigates fresh headwinds and intensifying competition for passengers and planes.
“This is not a turnaround,” Nuttall, a British national, said in an exclusive interview with InsiderPH.
“I’m inheriting an airline that has done an awful lot of good things,” he said, pointing to three consecutive years of profits and strong on-time performance under outgoing president Stanley Ng.
“It is a relatively young fleet by the standard of legacy carriers, it’s got orders in there and aircraft arriving—which many airlines don’t. It’s got fantastic crew, it’s got a great reputation for its in-flight product,” he added.
Healthy tension
In the coming weeks before PAL’s stockholders’ meeting, Nuttall will be getting up to speed and becoming more familiar with its people and operations.
He admitted during the interview that he’s feeling the pressure that comes with the high-profile role.
“If you’re not nervous, then you’re not going to deliver. So, you know, a little bit of healthy tension and pressure is good,” he said.
PAL gets a new coach
Like the planes they operate, airlines are intricate systems with thousands of people working together to ensure operations run smoothly and, most of all, safely.
“If you talk to the people that I work with, the thing that I really do is, in this industry, you can’t run an airline as one person. This is an airline with 6,000 people,” Nuttall said.
“There is nobody who can be an expert in engineering, an expert in marketing, an expert in revenue management, a finance whiz,” he said.
“If you look at what I’ve done in the last few airlines where I’ve been, it’s really been about getting the management team together, getting everybody to understand what are the four or five big things that we need to deliver on, and tracking that—and, you know, delivering as a team,” he added.
Crisis-tested leadership
Nuttall earned an international reputation for airline turnarounds, most recently as CEO of SriLankan Airlines during the COVID-19 pandemic, which he described as his most challenging assignment to date.
Their hands already full navigating the health crisis, Sri Linka was in the middle of a full-blown economic crisis.
The national carrier’s plans to purchase new planes was derailed when the government defaulted on loans. Soon after, they ran out of jet fuel.
“I don't know anybody else who's run a national airline in a country with no jet fuel for two months,” Nuttall said.
Nuttall wasted no time, quickly directing a team that coordinated with international regulatory bodies to fly in jet fuel from southern India to keep SriLankan Airlines jets operational.
“Our planning team worked with the airport team and it took about a week the first time. But what it meant was that we gradually got into this, the flight operations team learned what they were doing,” he said.
“That’s the big message that these things are not done by one person. They’re done by a whole team,” he added.
Fine-tuning, not disruption
Nuttall has the support of PAL’s management team, which includes a mix of newcomers and experienced veterans.
Backing him up is Carlos Luis Fernandez, a key executive within the Tan business empire, who rises to the role of PAL chief operating officer.
An airline insider described Nuttall as personable, having a “calm temperament,” and—most importantly—being attuned to the local culture.
During the interview, he was also careful not to divulge any major strategic shifts.
“I’ve been here for four days,” he said. “I could say something today and find out tomorrow that it’s wrong.”
But he hinted at his preference for continuity and “fine-tuning” over disruption.
“It’s not a question of reinventing the whole wheel. It’s just a question of maintaining this journey onwards and upwards,” he said.
“I’ve worked for eight airlines and every airline that you come into is in a different space. Sometimes you come and you’re in a turnaround situation. Sometimes you’re in different situations, but I think if you look at [PAL] at the moment, it’s actually in a really good place,” he added.
Returning to PAL after 26 years
Nuttall had a brief stint with PAL when he came in as senior commercial adviser from January 1999 until August that year.
The consultancy firm Nuttall worked for was engaged during PAL’s court-supervised corporate rehabilitation following the Asian Financial Crisis.
While the contract was cut short, the past was not a barrier, since Nuttall’s impressive resume stood out during an executive search led by PAL’s leadership early this year.
Global troubleshooter
Nuttall’s career has been defined by its global scope that spans aviation firms across 13 countries.
His deep familiarity with Asian markets was also shaped during his 12 years working with Swire Group, the largest shareholder of Cathay Pacific.
Apart from this, he held leadership roles at Kenya Airways, Royal Jordanian, Saudia, Bahrain Air, Polar Air Cargo, and served as an executive board member of SkyTeam, one of three major airline alliances alongside Star Alliance and Oneworld.
“What I bring is an international perspective,” Nuttall said.
“In terms of the ecosystem that Philippine Airlines works in, I know that quite well, but I’ve also got the experience and learnings of many other airlines,” he added.
Rebuilding with confidence
Nuttall understands that for PAL to grow, the leadership team must continue strengthening confidence among its staff and passengers.
“I just don't think the airline knows how good it is. And we need to build on that,” he said.
“I actually think the airline needs to find its confidence a little bit more, because I think we need to sort of sell the fact that actually the product is really good,” he added.
Miguel R. Camus has been a reporter covering various domestic business topics since 2009.
