Salvaging PIA

Apropos to letters on PIA by Mukhtar Ahmad and Mumtaz Khan, the record financial losses, disruption of schedules and staggering additional Rs 100 billion losses during past four years is an indictment, if any is required, on the mediocrity, incompetence and lack of integrity and professional ethics of top executives appointed by this government, without regard to merit, experience, professional ethics or qualification.
Commercial aviation is a specialised field, which requires services of best qualified team of professionals to cope challenges offered by a highly competitive market which offers choice of competitive fares, consumer friendly schedules and minimal pilferage by transparency in procurement. What could have been worse than the fact that even Umra and Hajj passengers were fleeced by a nexus of few marketing executives and few travel agents who created a cartel of sorts. There should be no doubt that responsibility for PIA’s failures rests with none than its top executives who were at the helm when the losses occurred. Inspite of an assured loyal ethnic expatriate traffic, the national airline lost its market share by collective failure of its executives and a government which went on a loot sale of traffic rights to foreign airline without bilateral benefits to national airline.
The highly controversial deal with THY was nothing but selling most expensive sole asset of PIA, which were its routes for peanuts. Almost half of PIA’s fleet was grounded because of lack of technical spares, a consequence of controversial selection of vendors for supply of spares. While PIA losses mounted and frequency of flights were slashed, the national airline against all commercial ethics further added to its already surplus employee strength by hiring more employees in violation of merit or transparency. It is only this year that Hajj operation has been conducted far better than in past four years, when it was a nightmare for pilgrims who paid the highest fare per kilometre on PIA’s international network. This offers some hope that PIA may rebound back. For this to occur it is essential that those responsible for its rot should have no role in the new management.
There is neither shortage of educated, skilled manpower and qualified men or women in Pakistan, nor any compulsion to hand PIA over to lesser qualified men whose sole experience was irrelevant such as confined to their skills in clearing/forwarding industry. PIA is in a nose dive and requires expertise, integrity and competence to guide it out of a mess of its own making.
ALI MALIK
Ilinois, USA