PIA’s inefficiency

If an airline is a reflection of the state of a country, then PIA has proved that Pakistan needs a severe jolt (be it divine or extraterrestrial) to wake up and get its act together. PIA’s flight PK 790 was supposed to fly on 6 December at 5:30pm from Toronto to Lahore but only managed to depart 48 hours later (a whole two days). There were no floods/tsunamis/extreme weather conditions, or for that matter any other external factors driving this delay – it was only a lack of effective management and contingency planning on PIA’s part that drove this.
The reason PIA lamely put forward was the plane had technical issues. How can a major international airline not have back-up plans or alternate aircraft arrangements to manage a situation like this? A 4-6 hours delay is understandable, but delaying around 500 passengers for a 48 hour period – passengers who might have to go meet a loved one on death bed, or participate in wedding celebrations of a family member – is gross injustice and ineffectiveness on PIA’s part. Robbing people of these precious moments (not being able to meet a parent for the last time, or being at the wedding of a sibling) is unforgivable and there has to be accountability at some level. Hopefully, someone within PIA has the ethics, morals, values and principles to investigate and ensure something like this never happens again.
Wake up PIA, wake up Pakistan!
ENG ABDUL MAJEED KHAN
Lahore