The billions of rupees of funding or credits provided to PIA on sovereign guarantees by federal government will go down the drain if corrupt mediocrity that dominates its executive corridors is not purged. It has to be restored to status of service oriented industry, instead of an organization burdened to provide employment to unqualified children of ruling elite, airline employees or the khaki bureaucracy, while its GSAs, routes, fleet induction plans traded as political bribes by every successive government for decades.
PIA, inspite of an assured clientele of ethnic Pakistanis, has incurred massive losses of over Rs100 billion in past four years. The unfortunate reality is that PIA’s vast potential for revenue generation, high salaried employment benefits and growth factor, became its biggest liability, for these very benefits enticed corrupt civil and military governments to stuff this airline with corrupt mediocrity and pilfer its abundant revenues. It is an airline where choice of aircrafts bought, or fleet requirements are not dictated by commercial and financial factors, but massive kickbacks which such deals offer. This is an airline, whose management’s priority is that it does not have millions to buy spares, but can seek billions to buy new aircrafts, pay millions of dollars to hire DMDs, consultants etc.
Its sole surviving assets, namely human resources and routes, have now been compromised by surplus recruitments in violation of merit and loot sale of routes in violation of all bilateral agreement norms. While airlines all over the world have raised their minimal induction requirement for pilots, engineers, sales executives, cabin crew or IT professionals, PIA has either maintained them at the level which existed in 60s or 70s, or even given waivers to suit individuals. Airlines all over the world hire 14 to 16 pilots per aircraft, while PIA has over 26 for its fleet of 40 aircraft, with more than 200 surplus fresh recruits waiting for years to be operational, inspite of the fact that only 30 aircrafts are serviceable.