SC seeks PIA business plan for new recruitment

Lawyer requests court to give permission for immediate advertisement for 80 pilots

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to present a business plan along with revenue details, while denying permission to the national flag carrier for the recruitment of 250 employees.

A three-member bench, led by Justice Ijazul Ahsan heard a petition filed by the PIA to recruit more employees. The court wondered how the airlines would pay the salaries to the new employees. The bench asked the PIA to provide details of the positions to be filled and the reasons for the recruitment.

During the hearing, PIA’s lawyer Salman Akram Raja told the bench that the PIA had reduced its employees by 6,521 since 2018, which made up for 35% of the total workforce. Now the total employees were 11,800, he added.

Sitting on the bench, Justice Mazahir Ali Akbar inquired whether the operations of the airlines had improved. The lawyer replied that there had been some improvement, but there was still room for more.

Justice Ahsan asked how many planes the PIA had and how much profit or loss it was incurring. The chief financial officer (CFO) of the PIA replied that they had earned $154 billion in the last 11 months. He added that the airlines had 30 aircraft, out of which 10 were on the lease.

The CFO said that they would buy five new planes on 10-year instalment. Justice Mazahir said that all routes of the PIA, including Europe, United States and Canada, had been closed and nobody wanted to travel in their planes, even on a domestic route.

The lawyer requested the court to give permission for immediate advertisement for 80 pilots, so that the process could be started. He pointed out that 24 pilots had resigned.

Justice Ahsan asked what 80 more pilots would do when the total number of aircraft is 30. The lawyer said that the apex court had imposed a ban on recruitment in 2018, and in 2019, recruitment was allowed for Hajj operations. He further remarked that the pilots also needed rest during the journey.

The CFO said that there were 370 pilots in the airline after 34 resigned. He also said that seven planes of the PIA operated internationally. Justice Ahsan said that the financial officer painted a “rosy picture”, but the facts were different.

“The institution is hardly meeting its expenses, where the money for the aircraft will come from,” he asked. He also pointed out that PIA was seeking a grant from the government for instalments of the planes and salaries of employees.

He remarked that 6,000 employees have been reduced and now they are taking the airline to that situation again. The court then adjourned the hearing till the first week of January.