PIA’s tarnished image

Our national flag carrier, it seems, is forever crash-landing itself into trouble. With its bloated workforce and less-than-enviable record of service, PIA often hogs the limelight for all the wrong reasons. A clutch of recent incidents besmirch its image even further. At least 12 of its staff were arrested recently following the discovery of 6kgs of heroin in the toilet of an aircraft bound for Dubai. This latest episode of misconduct by the airline staff was uncovered after the Anti-Narcotics Force raided a Lahore-to-Dubai flight. A PIA spokesman has said the employees are being quizzed in connection with the heroin seizure and, if proven guilty, will face action with respect to their jobs, in addition to the legal consequences. A similar case of narcotics smuggling is facing inquiry for some time to determine if the PIA staff had a hand in the illicit act. In June last year, the airline sacked five cabin crew members who had been detained in the UK on charges of trying to smuggle mobile phones and foreign currency.

As if all this is not enough, cases of sexual harassment have also come to the fore. An airhostess has sued PIA management for issuing her a show-cause notice allegedly to victimise her for reporting harassment at the workplace. In her petition, she has alleged that the controller of the PIA medical centre, under whose charge she was placed, started harassing her by objecting to her dressing and using inappropriate language. In an act of revenge, she alleges, not only was she issued a show-cause notice, but also denied medical care at PIA’s health facility. All these incidents point to poor management and dysfunctionality of the national carrier. While taxpayers’ money has often been used to bail it out of trouble and the airline will now be embarking on introducing its premier service, there seems to have been little effort put in place to ensure the most basic of things like ensuring employees are not involved in illegal activities. The culture at the organisation is clearly in need of urgent reform.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 13^th, 2016.

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