The newly appointed Pakistan International Airline (PIA) Managing Director Rao Qamar Suleman will have to face a tough time at the cash-strapped national flag carrier.
He will have to do a lot of restructuring to streamline operations as almost ten grounded aircraft are still queued for maintenance, Pakistan Today learnt on Wednesday. PIA sources said the PIA MD would have to reassess the capability and capacity of the airline’s higher management, as merit had been violated in most appointments by the previous management for obvious reasons. Sources said as many as ten aircrafts, including one Boeing 747, one B-777ER, five Airbus A-310s, two B-737s and one ATR 42-500 were grounded for scheduled maintenance, while A310 AP-BEC had been grounded since October 24, 2011.
They said 14 engines needed overhauling, but PIA did not have any plan how it would make its fleet fully operational. The previous management signed an agreement of $700 million credit facility with Dubai-based company Transworld, but the airline could not make this deal operational, even top man has been changed, they underlined.
Sources said an Airbus A310 (AP-BGN) was grounded since November last year as its parts and engine had been installed in other aircraft to get them ready for flights. Airbus A310 (AP-BGN) was waiting for both Check-A and some spares as well as shake down inspection.
The engine of a Boeing 737 (AP-BFT) had completed its life, while to keep it in operation it was replaced with other grounded aircraft as PIA had no new engine for this aircraft, they added.
The sources said the national flag carrier’s management had been planning to purchase new aircraft despite its surging loss of over Rs 100 billion.
“Any sane management should first use its resources efficiently and then opt for new purchasing, but despite the huge losses illogical decisions are being made at the highest level,” a former PIA official said.
He pointed out that engineering department that was being criticised for all such inefficiencies was the same that helped Emirates, Qatar and some other foreign airlines to develop their state-of-the-art engineering facilities. Highlighting the mismanagement in national flag carrier, another unnamed official disclosed that a damaged engine uplifting contract was awarded to a transportation company at the cost of approximately $33,000, which was scheduled to start arriving in Karachi this week. However, for reasons best known to the PIA management, this low cost alternative was replaced with a chartered flight from Amman to Karachi, which would cost $140,000, as quoted by Rayyan Air.
An uphill task for new PIA MD
