The flying dinosaur

The very large dinosaur that is PIA has chosen the path of evolutionary failure

Those with an eye to prehistory will know that dinosaurs did not exactly die out and some of them evolved into what we know today as birds. It was the bigger beasts that did not adapt or evolve so well and eventually marched to extinction probably aided by the impact of a large meteor which made what is now the Gulf of Mexico. The very large dinosaur that is Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has chosen the path of evolutionary failure and never grew the necessary feathers to ensure unassisted flight and is in a long slow glide to whatever swamp it is that dead airlines wind up in.

Despite the blindingly obvious in terms of flyability, or lack thereof, this and other governments have pelted the ailing beast with money in the hope that it will in some way avert evolutionary inevitability, so far with a complete lack of success. Thus it is that the government on Friday May 11^th approved a Rs20 billion bailout package for PIA, the fifth time it has done this in less than 18 months. The package is to meet the expenditures attached to overhauling engines and is thus viewed as vital. Pilots — and passengers — tend to notice when the engines stop working at inconvenient times.

The Kamikaze Model of airline funding and management dates back to 2008 when the federal government as the majority shareholder gave assurances that it would maintain the airline seemingly in perpetuity, and has stood in the middle of the runway(s) tearing up money ever since. Losses currently stand at Rs340 billion and accelerating. A proposal to privatise PIA came to nothing despite being a condition attached to an IMF loan; and further black merriment will eventually be provided by the release of the audited financial statement to December 2017. The plan to extract core functions expired on April 15^th and once the latest Rs20 billion have been soaked up the Piasaurus is going to get wobbly at the featherless knees yet again — but by that time it will be a problem for the incoming government. Brace for impact.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13^th, 2018.

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