Federal Minister for Aviation and Railways, Khwaja Saad Rafique has said that the government does not intend to sell or offer any stakes of the national flag-carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), to anyone. He further stated that the rumours of selling one of PIA’s prime properties in New York, the Roosevelt Hotel are also not true.
Instead, the government is looking to reopen the hotel, following the best international practices to make it a successful and revenue generating property. “We are working hard to bring PIA back on track. This needs a lot of hard work, planning and increase in the operational fleet,” said Rafique during a press conference on Monday. He added that the government should have a limited role in operating PIA and its assets. “We have to follow the global model of operating the airline, and its assets, which include airports and other properties like the Roosevelt Hotel.
Restoring and managing the hotel is a costly project and we will ultimately have to pursue it through a joint venture. We have already recommended this in a Cabinet meeting,” explained the minister. He added that “currently, PIA is overstaffed but we are not considering any layoffs at this point as we are a third world country. This labour force will be adjusted once the PIA fleet crosses 40 aircrafts.” “PIA earned Rs50 billion in this quarter and is doing fine. We have set a revenue target of Rs138 billion for the airline for this fiscal year but are hopeful to collect a revenue of over Rs155 billion,” said Rafique.
“By the end of this month, PIA’s operational fleet will increase to 24 aircrafts. However, a country of 220 million people needs a fleet of at least 40 aircrafts. We are working to acquire the new aircrafts on lease though it will take some time,” he noted. Talking about global fleet operations, Rafique said that an irresponsible statement made by the former minister dented PIA operations. “We are still trying to recover from the loss and are in talks with the authorities of the UK, USA and EU to restart PIA operations there.
There is a dire need for direct flights between the UK and Pakistan as other private airlines are charging heavily for the route,” he added. The minister said that they have come to an agreement with Turkish Airlines whereby the airline will take Pakistani passengers to 26 international destinations from Istanbul airport. PIA will arrange the flight of passengers travelling from Pakistan to Istanbul. “We are also expanding flights for religious tourism. Currently, we have trimmed fares for China and once we start operating directly to Beijing, air fares for China will come down further,” said the minister.
Rafique added that they are “working to increase the capacity of Lahore Airport. Apart from this, we are also working to expand other airports like Sukkur, Dera Ismail Khan and others, along with fleet planning to improve connectivity across the country.” “Currently, PIA is a problematic entity, suffering from an image problem. This is the same scenario I faced in Pakistan Railways. We have to fight back and change the mindset to make PIA one of the best airlines once again,” he asserted.
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