Gone are the days for undisciplined stick jockey pilots, or semi-educated technicians in highly competitive global aviation industry. Nor is there any chance for an airline to survive which is dominated by politicized corrupt mediocrity. PIA today has been reduced to a loss incurring airline, whose flight regularity is at its lowest. It is an airline, which instead of going for option of taking leased aircrafts for Hajj operation, preferred to suspend its scheduled flights to Germany, not realizing that after such a decision, PIA’s Frankfurt flights are doomed forever. It is an airline, which instead of serving revenue paying passengers has been hostage to vested interests within the Ministry of Defense and few powerful employee groups, who consider this airline as their family job market.
From top executives in marketing, customer services to skilled workers like pilots or engineers and technicians, the requirements for induction have been intentionally reduced to suit ‘blue eyed’ mediocrity. Given the rot that has plagued PIA’s human resources, no headway can be made, unless the airline is surgically cleansed of corrupt elements and strict discipline is enforced, which can only be achieved if the airline is closed for 48 hours and then reopened, with a free choice to rehire the best and most qualified employees with impeccable integrity.
No other industry has witnessed such fast technological growth, as has the aviation industry in post WW-II era. Commercial airlines in USA require their pilots and technicians to be at least high school educated, which takes 13 year of formal education, excluding the kindergarten or pre-school training education, whilst their aviation sales and administration executives must be graduates or masters in their specific fields, which takes a minimum of 16 to 18 years of formal education. Only our A ‘Level or a graduates putting in two years after intermediate would qualify to be equivalent to High School graduates in USA. PIA, however continues to hire pilots and technicians, who are either matriculates, intermediate pass or just an O’Level, which is not understandable, and explains the rapid deterioration in human resources and incompetence of their skilled workers to come up to responsibilities placed on their shoulders, by a highly specialized aviation industry, demanding the best.
RASHID ORAKZAI,
Islamabad, September 8.