PIA imbroglio

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is mulling the possibility of grounding passenger flights to the United States next year. Its last remaining destination in the United States is New York’s JFK Airport after all other PIA destinations in the US were phased out. The airline could make its final journey by December 31. Discontinuing flights to one of the world’s most popular destinations is certainly a painful decision.

Financial reasons have been cited for this contemplated action. Given the extent of PIA losses, perhaps the decision ought to have been taken much earlier. The fact that political pressure prevented that from happening is loathsome. This is just another lucid display of how little our politicians care for the country and its future.

The carrier has been incurring losses incessantly, up to Rs1.25 billion annually. Those in the corridors of power are venal minded and somehow managed to work that to their benefit. It is daunting to realise that these unconcerned figures reign over us; their systems and actions are based not on asking how they can improve the people’s quality of life but how they can pilfer from public accounts. Many other aspects of the PIA imbroglio also continue to be ignored, such as the overstaffing issue, despite having reduced the number of employees more recently. Furthermore, the management has adopted some poor decisions in the past. The air carrier’s last profitable year was over a decade ago, in 2004, and since then, losses have grown by exorbitant rates between certain years while revenues have shrunk overall.

While government leaders appear to be major proponents of rapid economic development, their irrational actions are driving government revenues towards recession. Since it is alleged that politicians are to be blamed for forcing PIA US flight operations, partners need to weed out corrupt elements. Because the airline is mostly still government-owned, there should be greater transparency of financial dealings.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9^th, 2017.

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