ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has called for implementation of a wide ranging reform plan to tone up Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) by arresting rising liabilities, stemming general decline and converting it into a profitable orgnisation.
He was chairing a performance review meeting of PIA here at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Friday.
Zardari said that injecting more finances alone was not the answer. What we need in equal measure is the optimal utilisation of financial, material and human resources as well as finding out of box solutions for renewal the existing fleet.
He said that a reform package was also necessary for safeguarding interests of the organization and its employees adding that timely replacement of the aging fleet with more modern and economical ones would not only reduce the operational costs but also ensure safety of the passengers.
Welcoming management’s initiative to separate non-core activities from the core business, the President said that such steps were urgently needed in order to ensure cost effectiveness of the business.
The President during meeting also urged the management to ensure that the passengers’ complaints, if any, are properly addressed and that they are properly facilitated while traveling with PIA.
The meeting was attended by Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Federal Minister for Defence, Air Marshal (Retd) Khalid Chaudhary, DG Civil Aviation Authority, Capt Nadeem Khan Yousafzai, MD PIA, Dr Najeeb Samie, Managing Director PIA Investments Limited and Secretary General to the President Salman Faooqui was also present during the meeting.
Spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said that the special meeting had been convened in the backdrop of reports about the airline not doing and called for toning up the organization.
MD PIA Capt Nadeem Khan Yousafzai briefed the meeting about the organization and the steps taken to reform the organization.
During a later part of the meeting, DG Civil Aviation Authority Air Marshal (r) Khalid Chaudhry also briefed the President about CAA’s performance.
He informed that in order to promote aviation industry in Pakistan, a revised National Aviation Policy has been drafted. He said that recently International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) conducted extensive State audit of Pakistan from June 5th to 17th, 2011 and graded Pakistan at 82% compliance level against the World’s average of 65%.
Chaudhary also said that Safety Management System of CAA was recognized as one of the best in the world especially its drive for achievement of Integrated Management System was highly appreciated by ICAO auditors and experts. CAA has also been invited to assist ICAO in several disciplines, he added.
Improvement in Air space management, enhanced capability to design Instruments Fight Procedures, establishment of six new Air Traffic Services routes in Karachi/Lahore FIR (Flight Information Region), newly acquired state-of-the-art air Traffic Management System and Automated Message Handling Systems were amongst the successes of CAA.
Air Marshal (r) Khalid Chaudhary said that various initiatives were being taken in the Airport Services Performance side in line with the current best prevalent practices.
Revenue during financial year 2010-11 registered a 6.3% increase over the last year and another increase of 4% is envisaged during nex year, he said.
He said that for the funding of ongoing mega projects, CAA was exploring the options of financing Rs 7.1 billion.
The president was also briefed about the progress on the new Benazir Bhutto International Airport Islamabad. He called for an early completion of the project.
COMMENTS (10)
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Zardari is has advised PIA to go for purchase of atleast 10 Boeing 777 to be operated on European routes, which is a very good for the PIA.
@Roaming eye: Khalis is mentioning Air India, not PIA.
Secondly, even if indian airline or other indian companies are going into looses, it has nothing to do with us. This just thought will not solve OUR problem in pakistan. We need to stop looking at others and just concentrate at ourself to remove inefficiencies and corruption. The first step is to accept that what we have been doing is not right...
@Khalis PIA has only 40 aircraft in total, out of which 11 were inoperational untill a week ago as per newspaper reports while almost half of the fleet is close to completing its flying age. Due to the financial mess that it is in, PIA does not even have enough to money to buy fuel at this point, leave alone buying 68 new planes. If only you knew how many billions does it cost to acquire 68 new commercial aircraft, you would have never made that assertion. The sad part is that in the late seventies also, PIA had a mere 40 aircraft. All it has done in the past three decades is to mainatin that level, yet its the service and competitiveness that have taken a nose dive ever since. Unless new planes and a whole new approach are not injected into the system, there is no chnace of a bounce back.
I recently had the opportunity to speak to PIA's CFO who was meeting various bankers to arrange financing on a war footing basis. He clearly said we barely have enough money to buy fuel and pay salaries....spare parts are something we can barely afford....its basically a spit shine job right now so please loan us funds.
PIA needs to revamp its operations, acquire newer, fuel efficent aircraft to replace its aeging fleet, cut back its balooning costs, get rid of untrained, unwanted staff (even though it´s a hard pill to swallow) and MUST make drastic improvements in its customer service before reaching out to the world to promote its newer image (if ever it is able to a make-over). It´s a shame that the airline which helped creat world leaders like Emirates, Gulf Air and many more in the seventies, is languishing at the bottom due to decades of brutal neglect and mismangment. LIke the rest of the country´s institutions, the slide didn´t take place overnight, yet successive governments and mangements have failed miserably in turning the tide, mainly due to non-sustainable policies.
As someone who regularly travels across continents, I fail to understand why no genius has ever thought making PIA a part of a major alliance in order to attract additional traffic. Modern travellers and frequent flyers always prefer to choose partner airlines from major networks like Star Alliance, One World and Sky Team etc due to the fact that they get network wide preferential status, lounge access, upgrades and reward miles pretty much around the entire globe. Not only our Airports and lounges are pathetic, what benefits the frequent fliers get for choosing PIA over other network partner airlines on routes where there are other options?There is huge market that still remains completely untapped. PIA´s own programme is redundant and not enough due to it´s restrictive nature and a change would not only generate additional passengers but could also provide extra revenue from cargo as well. The benfeits far exceed any additional costs.
PIA´s inflight service still exceeds many bigger competitors. Since many competitors have already pulled out of the Pakistani market due to the ongoing war in the region and poor law & order, there is no reason why PIA should struggle financially as it provides the best direct access flights to Pakistan and there is no shortage of traffic. What´s lacking though is the proferssional handling of it´s affairs like any other customer oriented business and a freedom from the government meddling, which is no ess than a parasite and thr prime reason for the poor state of affairs. The sooner it happens , the better.
@meekal, they bought 68 aircrafts in one go and the turbulent recession takes down there profit which led to losses. they have restructured and they are coming back into profit. wait to see this quarters profit
To my (presumably) two Indian friends above I would like to remind them of the sorry state of Air India!
At least at one time, PIA was the best in Asia. AI never was.
@Pundit: I think you have no optional at all. Fly by PIA absolutely at your own risk, can you do so? If everyone one starts travelling by a bicycle then the Petrol will be cheaper but the Govt. will make sure that the bicycle is sold at the price of a car.
I always said that if Pakistani Railway services are poor, let the poor travel by PIA ( Pls Inform Allah).
But with 10 of 39 aircrafts out of order...I think bycyles are best!