PAC panel questions wet lease of aircraft

A subcommittee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has been informed that the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had obtained six aircraft on wet lease at a cost of Rs2.73 billion in disregard to the set guidelines in 2014-15.

The subcommittee referred the matter to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for further investigation.

The audit officials revealed that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had received Rs14.8 billion from the passengers as security charges. The committee directed CAA to justify before the audit officials if they had the authority to collect the charges.

The subcommittee also sought details of the action taken against employees appointed in PIA on the basis of fake degrees.

The meeting, chaired by Convener Raja Riaz, reviewed Aviation Division’s audit objections for the fiscal year 2018-19.

The audit officials stated that the CAA took undue charges from passengers, even though the ASF was allocated a budget by the government.

They questioned why the CAA felt the need to levy security charges, adding that the authority was receiving the charges per passenger.

The convener instructed CAA to respond to the claims in the next meeting and put off discussion on the matter.

Sharing details on PIA’s six new aircraft, the audit officials informed the committee that the wet lease was expensive, although rich airlines could easily afford it.

The planes were obtained in 2014-15, advertisements were given for four aircraft but six were acquired and operated on local routes.

The convener asked why the aircraft were obtained if there was no need and referred the matter to the accountability watchdog.