‘Multan factor’: Gilani appoints two directors to PIA
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has appointed two directors to the management board of the Pakistan International Airlines, Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar has said.
Mukhtar, who was quizzed by senators on Friday over corruption and mismanagement in the national flag carrier, said that one of the two directors belonged to Multan, the same city that the PM hails from. Throughout the question-and-answer session, Mukhtar struggled to assure the Senators that efforts are being made to turn PIA into a profitable organisation.
“The Multan factor remains dominant in PIA,” said Senator Abbas Khan, as lawmakers across party lines pointed out the prime minister’s influence on institutions.
According to a defence ministry report available with The Express Tribune, around 2,171 people have been recruited over the past three years in the PIA, which has lost Rs100 billion in the same time period.
Meanwhile, in a written reply to the Senate, Mukhtar said that PIA has suffered losses of Rs366 million, owing to discontinuation of two important flights from Pakistan. It lost Rs274.2 million in two years due to suspension of Lahore-Glasgow flights and Rs92 million due to closure of Karachi-London flights.
“The Lahore-Glasgow flight was discontinued when it started incurring losses,” Mukhtar explained. “More flights were added to the Karachi-London route to recapture the London market but due to limited demand, the extra capacity became unprofitable.”
Devaluation of the rupee caused a loss of Rs50 billion to PIA, he said in response to a question by Senator Haroon Khan.
Admitting that there was a pressing need to rightsize PIA, the defence minister told the house that around 150 employees are being paid Rs0.5 million each per month.
To a question about corruption in his ministry, Mukhtar said that as many as 88 cases have been registered against officials.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 29th, 2011.
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PIA is a useless organizations that should have been privatized ages ago. Any attempt to prolong government ownership of PIA will incur more losses.