Crashing figures: PIA loses over Rs70m per day

Defence minister admits huge losses in the Senate.


Zahid Gishkori January 21, 2012

ISLAMABAD:


Pakistan International Airlines is suffering a loss of Rs70.7 million per day. The worrying figures are in keeping with recent reports, which suggest the airline has already lost Rs110 billion over the past three years.


Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar informed lawmakers in his written reply submitted to the Senate on Friday that “PIA suffered Rs19 billion losses over the last 273 days.”

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Senator Ismail Buledi and Pakistan Muslim League-Q Senator Begum Najma Hameed questioned why the national flag carrier had faced such turbulence for so long.

“PIA is not on brink of collapse, however it is a fact that the airline is in a sorry state of affairs,” acknowledged the minister, replying to questions posed by lawmakers during the question and answer session in parliament.

Asked why PIA was incurring losses despite growing domestic air traffic, Mukhtar said that high fuel costs were a factor. “We are looking to the government for help, before the national airline edges closer to the verge of collapse like Pakistan Railways,” he added.

Despite the crippling losses, PIA employees – both retired and serving – enjoy free travel in Pakistan as well as abroad, observed Senator Najma Hameed. Former directors and other board members are entitled to 12 tickets in economy and business plus, including other facilities, the written reply stated.

Lawmakers were also informed during the course of proceedings that seven out of 26 airports were closed down due to the suspension of PIA flight operations on account of insufficient traffic load. “Neither PIA nor any other airline is interested in conducting flight operations from the closed airports,” he said. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will consider proposals to make flights operational from the closed airports, said the minister.

Earlier, the ministry of defence revealed that over the past three years 2,171 people were recruited by PIA. The number of people hired by the incumbent government is the highest in the history of the national flag carrier, with 1,179 employed in 2010 alone.

“A paradigm shift is needed in PIA,” wrote Mukhtar in reply to this point. However, he maintained that there would be no reduction of manpower in operational staff such as pilots, aircraft engineers and specialised professionals.

The defence minister also disclosed that over Rs2.16 billion has been allocated for the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) in the current fiscal year (2011-12) budget.

The highest amount, worth Rs1.5 billion, will be spent on the Pakistan Communication Satellite System, he said. A memorandum of understanding has been signed between Suparco and the Institute of Remote Sensing Applications for scientific cooperation on the operational use of remote sensing technology in the fields of agriculture, water resources and disaster risk assessment.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21st, 2012.

Correction: An earlier version of this report incorrectly stated PIA's daily losses at Rs70,000 per day. Additionally, the report also incorrectly stated that PIA had only lost Rs19 million in 273 days. The error is regretted.

COMMENTS (11)

Lobster | 12 years ago | Reply

Very irresponsible reporting, the true loss is 70 million per day

Saad | 12 years ago | Reply

i think there has been a typo and you have missed a couple of zeros!

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