LAHORE: A 10-year special audit report of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) presented in the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday declared the national carrier’s long ongoing losses a result of political interference and absence of professional leadership.
The 500-page report prepared by chartered accountancy firm, A.F. Ferguson identified the losses sustained by PIA as well as, the causes behind them.
According to the audit report, the national carrier accumulated a total of Rs73bn loss in 2009 which escalated to a whopping Rs 360.39bn by 2017.
The report further details all the factors that cause PIA’s annual losses and poor financial performance. Some of the reasons that have been stated are inefficient fuel management, unnecessary expenses on the crew, performance of subsidiaries, poor supply chain and contract management, inefficient engineering and maintenance department among others while the root cause for all of PIA’s troubles has been ascertained to be the national carrier’s top leadership.
“PIAC has been run like a non-business entity, governed by the non-professional BoDs, managed by CEO lacking industry-specific experience,” the report states.
Moreover, the audit report recommends the appointment of CEOs and MDs on merit and putting an end to “unnecessary interference from government” as a must if the airline wants to improve its performance.
The report further advised that the “National Aviation policy, ASAs with Gulf and Turkish Airline be reviewed” and “efficient and dynamic BoD be constituted to turnaround the airline”.
The SC has directed PIA to submit its response to the audit by October 31.
