When PM Nawaz promised to restore PIA to its past glory, people expected drastic changes in its management, governing board and policies. Instead this organisation has been left for the past six months in the hands of same wolves, with glaring conflicts of interest, who were responsible for making it an organisation loaded with surplus employees, grounded aircrafts, depleting revenues, massive corruption and transformation from a service oriented industry to an organisation catering to welfare of semi-literate cronies. For such insensitivity on part of politicians, whose personal business empires have thrived and expanded, it is shocking to understand their apathy to state owned assets by appointing the most unqualified of men, including those having fake degrees and no relevant experience to senior executive assignments. A controversial executive director, shown dancing like a clown, during whose tenure an artificial shortage of seats was created to fleece poor Umrah pilgrims, continues to be part of airline management, dominated by mediocrity.
If only PIA could have a CEO of caliber, acumen and integrity of Nur Khan or Rafique Saigol, it has the potential to rebound back, given abundant ethnic Pakistani revenue market and cargo that other airlines have captured. From choice of aircraft, to foreign postings, recruitment and choice of vendors or GSA etc, it has been decades that decisions were motivated by commercial interests, instead it is kickbacks, greed and conflict of interests. It started when PIA ended selling its new DC-10-30s in exchange for aged B747-200 from Canadian Pacific through Page Avjet, a broker, to choice of B777 instead of A340, to present decision of leasing A320 instead of Boeing 737-800, which would be a more adaptable replacement of B737-300.
PIA needs a complete change of team which for the past decade has driven it from a vibrant profitable airline of repute to an organisation dominated by mediocrity, driven to insolvency by design. Mere addition of aircrafts alone would not bring back loyal ethnic clientele, who were forced to abandon their national airline because of corruption riddled management involved in unfair practices, pilfering revenues and gross irregularities in procurement, postings and appointments.
MALIK TARIQ ALI
Lahore