Former Senior Vice President of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry and former Chairman of Pakistan Poultry Association Abdul Basit has demanded of the government to constitute a high powered committee comprising of public and private sector representatives to run the huge deficit-carrying Public Sector Enterprises like Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Pakistan Railways and Pakistan Steel Mills.
In a press statement issued here Friday, Abdul Basit said the National Flag carrier is following the steps of Pakistan Railways and is facing a loss of Rs144 billion with deliberate default of payment of repairs, causing grounding of planes and fabricating excuse for buying 39 planes at estimated cost of $2.5 billion in violation of PPRA rules.
He said both Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Pakistan Railways (PR) are on the verge of collapse, with the national flag carrier having to cancel over a dozen flights because of shortage of aircraft and Railways having to halt all trains from the Lahore region because of unavailability of diesel.
Abdul Basit said there are a number of high profile people attached with PIA but nobody in the airline was willing to address the issues being faced by it. He said large-scale political appointments have destroyed the record making airline. He said all over the world 100 to one planes standard is in vogue but it is very unfortunate that in case of PIA it is 400 to one plane that has jacked up the salary level of the national flag carrier to the level that it always in need of funding and today the situation has reached an alarming level.
Abdul Basit said political appointments are not only causing a huge loss but the standard of services provided by Pakistan International Airline (PIA) is going down every passing day.
The situation is worse for international destination and people tend to opt for other foreign airlines. The airline is in shambles due to political hiring by every government in power which is a huge burden on the Airline’s kitty. He said that the PIA’s inefficiency was more evident than it has been for years. And it isn’t only these delayed flights and the stranded passengers that have plagued PIA and its passengers but a number of things which include the poor condition of the airplanes, the shortage of the planes themselves, crash landings and an administration that
In 1962, PIA created a world record flying from London to Karachi nonstop in the shortest amount of time which was 6 hours 43 minutes and 51 seconds. The record remains unbeaten to this day. It’s high time we end politics in our national carrier and save it from going bankrupt.
