From flying high to belly landing

From its acme under Air Marshals Nur Khan and Asghar Khan, the national airline is now on the auctioneer’s block

A former PIA general manager recalls the times when the airline was truly great to fly with

One fondly recalls the story of PIA making its presence felt among the top contenders in the field and showing what an exceptional and visionary leadership can achieve even with limited resources.

It had been a mere chance for me to land in the national airline well over a half century ago. I was quite content and reasonably settled as a staffer in the country’s leading newspaper then, The Pakistan Times, edited by late Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Mazhar Ali Khan, when suddenly Martial Law regime of Ayub Khan, in its infinite wisdom and the advice of such associates as Qudaratullah Shahab, Majeed Malik and others of their ilk struck to take over Progressive Papers Ltd group with all its publications and assets including my employer. It was put under strict bureaucratic control.

A few months later when an offer came to me to join the airline in its public relations set-up, I had no hesitation in accepting a new and challenging job with the newly-formed PIA. Little did I know that I would be stuck in this new profession for a lifelong and most rewarding assignment.

PIA used to operate in Lahore from the Walton Airport, with its city offices located in the Shah Din Building at The Mall. It was in the process of re-building and expansion. So I became a part of its ambitious and highly challenging role.

From Lahore, where I looked after the entire western wing (West Pakistan), I was within a short period promoted to System Press Officer, a pivotal job at the head office with my boss being Mr Omar Kurieshi, who became my lifelong mentor, guru and friend rolled into one.

To sum up, PIA in its initial days under a dynamic chief, Air Marshal Nur Khan lost no time in gathering an outstanding and professional team. I recall such brilliant people in senior management like Enver Jamal, M.M. Salim, Aijaz Ali (all top class engineers), J.S Mirza, Mehmud Mirza, Nasir Ghani, S.U Qureshi, A.Z. Rehman, (all top class administrators) and matchless pilots like captains Abdullah Baig, M.T Baig, Shaukat, Masood Anwar, and countless others with Omar Kureishi playing a force-multiplier role as the public relations chief of PIA before he too was axed by the Zia regime on flimsy grounds, he being an old friend of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto from his schooldays.

Nur Khan paid particular attention to the expansion and restructuring of the airline. From Walton, PIA operations shifted to the PAF Base in Lahore Cantt and likewise many new domestic and international destinations were quickly added.

His most remarkable initiative was to acquire the newly introduced Boeing jet aircraft on lease from PanAm, while placing orders for new aircraft with the former. The old DC-3 (Dakota) was replaced with Fokker Friendship (F-27) and replacement of Lockheed-1011 (Super Constellations) were arranged as also acquisition of Tridents. Nur Khan also acquired a fleet of Sikorsky (S-61N) helicopters to make PIA the first-airline to operate scheduled helicopter services in the Eastern wing of the country, as well as earning the distinction of being the first airline in Asia to introduce jet aircraft.

It goes to the credit of Nur Khan that he understood the need for developing a healthy relationship with the workers union to create a new and rewarding tradition of cooperation.

During his six-year tenure Nur Khan turned PIA into an airline which was rated highly even by the more established and reputed airlines of that era.

It was followed by another era of consolidation and expansion under Air Marshal Asghar Khan. After his remarkable stint with the PAF, Asghar Khan during his term brought PIA the consolidation, tight administration and financial control while further upgrading of training, both in flight operations and passenger services.

The epitome of both the tenures under the Air Marshals Nur Khan and Asghar Khan was that PIA become not only a highly reputable airline but one can safely vouch there was a not a whiff of any financial irregularity or other scandals with which the national airline was afflicted in its subsequent years. Over the top, in all those years, PIA throughout remained a profitable organization.

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Turning it around

Professional leadership and review of human resource are the key

While the fortunes of PIA had soared high during the first Martial Law regime of Ayub Khan, PIA in the subsequent years recorded a different and sad story.

After the fall of Dacca, PIA lost the bulk of its huge operation in its former Eastern Wing, both in its extensive domestic network and as a convenient gateway to its regional and international operations.

First and foremost, it had a strong and traditional link to Calcutta, Rangoon, and Kathmandu. It had served as a gateway to China, Thailand, the Philippines and Japan. After 1971, PIA had to reorganize and restructures its operations all over again.

There is another depressing story, which was a reflection on the shape of things to come for the airline. One of its managing directors, Air Marshal Zafar Chaudhary planned to convert PIA into a regional airline and sell most of its assets, which cast a pall of gloom over the organization. However thanks to the timely arrival of another icon, Rafique Saigol, the airline saw another surge of expansion and astute and thoughtful planning, opening up of highly profitable Gulf and Middle Eastern routes, and ordering wide-bodied DC-10. This made PIA breathing once again. Undoubtedly Saigol played a stellar role in the revival of PIA.

But circumstances had changed in the country, notably the rise of politicised trade unions in PIA, which led to the ouster of Saigol. It is sad to note that PIA, except for brief interludes was never able to raise its head high again. Even the imposition of martial Law within PIA and its aftermath could not set the ball rolling.

The advent of unchecked and uncontrolled trade union activities during the ZIA era took a heavy toll. A DC-10 was burnt in the airline hanger and other such acts of sheer vandalism were repeated time and again. The unbridled induction of political appointees by various regimes, including at top positions accelerated the decline. The restoration of thousands of employees with their huge arrears, multiplying of incidents of indiscipline and lack of accountability have today led to making PIA a laughing stock of the airline world. It appears now a far cry from those golden days of the past. I have been wondering how many days or months it can survive before it meets the same fate like good old PanAm or others who vanished the same way.

There have been some notable examples before us. Merger of some older and much bigger airlines or cases like the Cathy Pacific, the Philippine Airline and others are before us who closed down and revived with new setups. Several other theories, including privatization, are also being floated, which need careful consideration before a final decision is made.

The important thing is that PIA can survive only without unwarranted government intervention, with honest and dedicated leadership of high integrity, a complete and careful review of its manpower and above all with an impeccable professional management. Presently I find the ranks of current senior management bereft of any such elements.

The writer is former General Manager, Public Affairs, PIA‏.