Part of the problem is that the system of regulatory oversight is very weak. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which should be ensuring the safety of the airline’s planes, often has officials who have previously worked at PIA, so there is at times a conflict of interest. In any case, both work under the same ministry, and that compromises the independence that the CAA should have, if it wants to be an effective regulator. Hence, no surprise that the authority is a tiger with no teeth — after all when was the last time an investigation report into an air crash in the country was made public? For the CAA to do its job, a law must be passed forbidding current and recent employees of airline companies from working for it. Also, all reports into airline mishaps, minor or serious, should be made public on the authority’s website so that there is transparency.
The national airline, for its part, must understand that it exists to serve its passengers, not its employees. It is poorly managed and inefficiently operated, and this is best reflected in it having one of the highest employees-to-plane ratios in the world. Years of political interference, patronage, nepotism and plain old complacency fostered by years of it being a monopoly have led to a situation where it loses billions every year. For it to have any hope of achieving a financial turnaround, mindsets of those who run it need to change. The airline needs to serve its fare-paying customers not ministers or members of parliament. It needs to raise its service standard, and drastically reduce its employee-plane ration. That is the only way to cutting costs, without which its long-term survival could be at stake.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 8th, 2011.
COMMENTS (17)
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@ Hamza: how can you relate Emirates with the sad story of PIA?
Basically, they are making people's mind up that soon PIA will turn into 100 percent private, will no longer hold shares, it would operate like PTCL, else as they are in losses they know what they have done by over hiring and not retiring people by giving extinctions. GOD HELP PAKISTAN.
I think the Editorial misses an important point with regard to CAA and never publishing accident reports.
We need an INDEPENDENT accident investigation body -- like the NTSB in the US, the AIB in the UK and the BEA in France (as well as other first-class bodies in Australia, Canada and so on).
A draconian cut in labor costs should only be the first step. After that freeze all pay and perks for three years and develop a profit-sharing scheme for the labor force based on productivity improvements.
@Maher:
No, there are other private airlines that fly on domestic routes!
Not sure how this is news? Might be correct but sounds like a mere rant.
You will see Bibi pics in their head office in Karachi.
Clearly you haven't researched your story because if you had, you wouldn't be writing this in the first place. PIA does have an ageing fleet - no doubts about that. Some of its planes (not all of them) are decades old, but that's not a factor to raise your eye brows on because almost every other airline has the same story. Emirates, Virgin, you name it. What should be concerning here is if PIA is taking proper measures to ensure the flight safety or not. If they weren't, they wouldn't have grounded their planes (12 of them if I'm not mistaken) in the first place.They did so because they KNEW it wasn't safe for flying. They didn't ground the rest because they KNEW its safe for flying and complies with the standard safety protocols. If a plane isn't safe for flying or doesn't comply with international safety regulations, it won't be allowed to leave the ground and PIA - being a 3 star airline - surely can't afford that. Moreover, PIA also has plans to ground their 747s and 737s by the end of this year. They have already placed order for 40 new jets to Boeing and Air Bus. Research your story first my friend. Please don't create hysteria among people with false or misleading information.
It's time to bury the corpse
if you pass by the PIA office in blue area, there is a huge picture of BB and Zardari on the main entrance.
how do you expect a deeply politicized organisation to work.
Hope this report falls on the right ears...what a shame to have abused such a wonderful organisations.
The problem is that the title of this article is incorrect. Regardless of PIA's problems most Pakistanis always think that PIA is " Great People to fly with" and continue to take it despite other chjoices. People, especially expatriate Pakistanis in Europe and North America always prefer PIA over any other airline. That's why the flights are always full and it's tough to get a flight. I can't understand why people prefer to pay more for a PIA flight than take cheaper flights from Gulf Airlines for example. Until Pakistani people keep just taking PIA because of blind preference or habit, no one will improve the overall state of the company.
couple of days ago the Islamabad Lahore flight was delayed more than two hours. reason being that the Governor of Punjab wished to fly back that same night and since he was delayed he had the flight delayed.
Pakistan's PIA stands for....."Please Inform Allah"
India's AI stands for...... "Already Informed"
Close it down sell the assests we will be better off in the long run
The major factor for PIA's decline is the rampant pilferage in its revenue sales, which erode the capacity of an airline to maintain its fleet efficiently. Although PIA Reservation System is computerised, few corrupt officials in marketing release seats at odd hours in connivance with select few travel agents at lower fares, before they are offered for general public sale. The RBD offers 4 class of fares in Business Class and 7 to 8 fare structures in Ey Class. During the Hajj and Umra this pilferage in revenues reaches a peak with windfalls for select travel agents and their partners in PIA Marketing. Almost Rs2.3 to 3 crores is the daily pilferage in PIA revenues, which is shared by this nexus.
living up to its name 'Pain in the ar....'