PIA removes acting chief operating officer from service

Captain Qasim Hayat is hereby relieved from the assignment of acting COO with immediate effect, reads statement

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has relieved the Acting Chief Operating Officer (COO) Captain Qasim Hayat from service.

"Captain Qasim Hayat, presently on leave, is hereby relieved from the assignment of acting COO with immediate effect," read a statement on Friday.

It added: "All departments and divisions reporting to acting COO will now report to COO Bernd Hildenbrand."



The acting COO is believed to have been removed in view of the incoming chairman forming his own team to run the affairs of the national flag carrier, sources said.

On December 12, days after the PK-661 crashed near Islamabad killing all 48 people on-board, PIA chairman Azam Saigol stepped down from the post.

According to PIA spokesperson Danyal Gillani, Saigol tendered his resignation on ‘personal grounds’. The noted industrialist and member of PIA’s board of directors was appointed as chairman of the national flag carrier in May 2016.



Saigol had blamed engine failure for the deadly crash. "I think there was no technical error or human error,” he told a news conference last week. “Obviously there will be a proper investigation."

Popular singer-turned-evangelist Junaid Jamshed, two Austrians and a Chinese national were also on the PIA flight PK-661, which crashed in the hills of Gagan in Batolni village, some 7km away from Havelian city.