The sole justification for government to spend millions on setting up PIA in 1956 was to provide a reliable, safe, and affordable national airline for the people of Pakistan, which should be run on pure commercial basis, hiring the best and most qualified workforce to maintain the highest standards so as to compete with other airlines. As long as PIA had honest and competent men like Nur Khan and Rafique Saigol to head it, it was profitable and a source of pride. Now with corrupt and incompetent mediocrity appointed as MDs, PIA has plunged to new lows, and is technically an insolvent organization whose total liabilities are more than double its total assets.
Instead of merit, recruitments were either sold to the highest bidder, or given to unqualified sons of executives or the elite of the ruling party; similarly the criterion for promotion and foreign postings depended on knowing well placed people. This did not happen overnight, it started with Ziaul Haq’s choice of a corrupt MD and Chairman, with Benazir government following suit, appointing cronies as Directors, whose sole qualification were either that they were related to her or her husband or his handpicked friends, followed by Nawaz Sharif who appointed a matriculate as GM and then Musharraf’s choices and finally Asif Zardari exceeding them all, putting the last nail in the coffin.
According to 200’s Ten Year Business Plan submitted To EXIM Bank for induction of B777, PIA was to register continuous growth with high utilisation of its fleet and aggressive marketing to make it profitable by 2013, having paid back all debts with revenues earned. Instead, PIA is going into heavy losses in 2013, with fleet utilisation at the lowest, and pilots flying an average 39 hours per month and the B747 crew under 22 hours per month. Yet they have rehired almost 20 pilots and 10 flight engineers on contract after retirement. So who will be brave enough to turn this around and bring back the lost glory of PIA?
G ZAMAN,
Peshawar, March 16.