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PIA downgraded to one-star airline

If PIA was a sick man suffering for years, PTI government and our dumbass minister has just knifed in public and buried it in its grave. As well as a blow to our internal reputation.

This was known as the airline that trained gulf airlines. Our pilots, civilian and PAF known to help train plenty of other countries and fly for them, our pilots had respect. That reputation was soiled in the blink of an eye. :hitwall:

This was perhaps the most stunning display of incompetency from this government yet.

Did they have any other choice after the inquiry? I don't blame this government for this.

For that to work the airline has to be renamed and re-branded which is not a task the retired sportsmen and servicemen are up to. It requires brilliant business grads and entrepreneurs with In-depth knowledge of commercial aviation.

On-spot.
 
Well deserved rating. Unfortunately, there’s no international institution to rate Pakistan Steel Mills, Pakistan Railways and other operationally defunct state owned cooperations in Pakistan. That Pakistan continues to put money into these nonfunctional organizations is the real outrage. Anyone that says they have to be overhauled before privatization is fooling the Pakistani people. No overhaul will ever come as it hasn’t come the past many decades. Just wash your hands of this filth and walk away. Spend the money in education and healthcare. We are talking about $6-9 billion a year.
 
That reputation was soiled in the blink of an eye.
Blink of an eye? Are you saying that PIA had a good reputation just before the revelation (which is from the country itself not from an outside investigation which would have been much worse)?

The article below is from 2011, so lets at least agree that the reputation was not ruined in the blink of an eye :
"PIA is entering another potentially dark chapter, as its corporate image has been badly damaged due to continuous violation of air safety regulations, long flight delays, continuous cancellations, emergency landings and technical faults with its aging fleet.
Besides, deteriorating air consumer confidence and declining profitability the PIA’s flight safety standards are also at lowest ebb and threatening the PIA itself to be put on watch-list of international watchdogs regulating the airline industry."
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/11/04/pia-a-crisis-of-reputation/

An article from BBC in 2017 :
"Pakistan International Airlines is investigating how seven extra passengers were allowed to stand in the aisles on a flight to Saudi Arabia, a spokesman told the BBC."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39081476

An article from 2015 :
Pakistani airlines: Unsafe at any altitude
"The government, especially the regulators at the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), has been negligently silent over the dismal safety records of Pakistan-based airlines."
https://www.dawn.com/news/1217643

Is the above in any way showing competency?
 
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If PIA was a sick man suffering for years, PTI government and our dumbass minister has just knifed in public and buried it in its grave. As well as a blow to our internal reputation.

This was known as the airline that trained gulf airlines. Our pilots, civilian and PAF known to help train plenty of other countries and fly for them, our pilots had respect. That reputation was soiled in the blink of an eye. :hitwall:

This was perhaps the most stunning display of incompetency from this government yet.
At a minimum, our incompetent transport minister should be sacked for his callous handling of this situation.
 
For that to work the airline has to be renamed and re-branded which is not a task the retired sportsmen and servicemen are up to. It requires brilliant business grads and entrepreneurs with In-depth knowledge of commercial aviation.

All move aborad. To find better lives for themselves and family.
This country din’t allow them opportunity to succeed. Terrible pay, work benefits and over workload on top of that. You stuggle 6-7 years abroad and you find directon in life. In Pakistan you keep stuggling your entire lives and don’t get anywhere.who’d want to stay?

Some qualified and experienced personal who do return to help the country get treated like shit by sifarshi elites or incompetent incels who believe no one is better than them.
 
This was perhaps the most stunning display of incompetency from this government yet.

What exactly would you assign this to? The minister mentioning the fake licensing ratio at PIA and Pak aviation sector in general?

I have contrarian view maybe on that, because it would be better for Pak govt to openly admit this and take the hit and work to fix it the long hard way.

If they kept this figure under wraps and pushed under carpet, it would inevitably surface another way and the longer consequences will be worse.

Ofc, ideally pak govt would have done a full thorough investigation of critical sectors licensing norms and prevalences esp by admin/party that seemingly got elected on large basis of fresh approach to anti-status quo and tackling rooted corruption etc.

I don't understand, how can it be given a 1-star rating ?

It's a national airline, it can't be that bad, I don't think so.

Maybe this is more to do with the fake/incompetent pilots.


Can anyone explain to me how/why PIA is considered 'poor' ?

You answered your own question, simply put safety takes a huge weight in assigning airline ratings.

If you fail the safety norms (and licensing and credibility is big part of it), esp if it comes to light only through an aviation disaster....you basically almost cannot go past 1 star rating...because more stars need addressal of the basic things.

In fact every major thing in aviation has safety primary role to it. Pilots training and licensing etc (along with certification of aircraft worthiness and maintenance) is obvious one, but not many know for example the flight attendants primary role is actually passenger safety...everything else they do is secondary or tertiary role. They are not there (as main thing) to serve you food or help you with boarding etc etc, but for your safety...they are trained in safety (for all manner of safety issues) as the main thing.
 
Well deserved rating. Unfortunately, there’s no international institution to rate Pakistan Steel Mills, Pakistan Railways and other operationally defunct state owned cooperations in Pakistan. That Pakistan continues to put money into these nonfunctional organizations is the real outrage. Anyone that says they have to be overhauled before privatization is fooling the Pakistani people. No overhaul will ever come as it hasn’t come the past many decades. Just wash your hands of this filth and walk away. Spend the money in education and healthcare. We are talking about $6-9 billion a year.
One problem is that our beghairti rulers will sink that $6-9 b into their own coffers. It's lose-lose-lose all the way as far as the country's concerned. Worse, our ruling elite generally lack the intellect and training to design and apply a lot of the key solutions to fixing this country.
 
Today all pilots even the genuine ones are getting the brunt of the blunder made by the Pakistani government to ruin the reputation of all of them because of some pilots having got their licenses through fake means. That day is not far away when the illiterate people running the regime in Pakistan will also ruin the reputation of all the Pakistani engineers and doctors of this country on international level because they will find that some engineers or doctors have got their degree through fake means. And then Pakistani engineers and doctors will also be kicked out of their jobs due to bad reputation. Then this country will go back to stone age where these illiterate ministers and so-called "leaders" will gladly live with there stone age tools.
 
PIA downgraded to one-star airline

LONDON: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has been downgraded to a one-star airline, the lowest rating out of a total of seven stars, by AirlineRatings.com.It is one of the top airline rating websites. The rating comes after the airline was suspected to be harboring 262 pilots with fake licenses.

Recently, the European Union banned PIA operations in the bloc for six-months. This reduced it to a one-star airline from a a three-star one. AirlineRatings.com has stripped PIA of its three-stars for the IATA Operational Safety Audit and one-star for the ICAO country audit.

The editor-in-chief of the website, Geoffrey Thomas, said, “Clearly there needs to be an investigation into possible bribery and falsifying related to the pilot licenses.” “This is deeply disturbing as the IOSA audit and ICAO country audit should pick this up,” Thomas said.

In a statement, IATA said they are following reports from Pakistan about fakepilot licenses, calling them “concerning” and “a serious lapse in licensing and safety oversight by the aviation regulator”. “We are trying to obtain more information on the matter,” the statement read.

After Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan announced last week that 262 out of 860 PIA pilots are suspected to have fake licenses, 150 pilots were sacked. The airline is under fire in the aftermath of its plane, A320, crash that killed 98 people in May in Karachi.

Experts say PIA is bankrupt. According to a recent report by Bloomberg, the national flag carrier is likely to be the first airline to default because of a global demand slump caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

A ratings downgrade to the lowest safety standards could further dent PIA’s business because customers will avoid travelling through it while other countries may close their airports for Pakistan’s national carrier.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/681431-pia-downgraded-to-one-star-airline
Run by unqualified people who need to be fired effective immediately.
 
If you hire pilots without all the proper credentials it's going to happen.

My concern is why CAA has not been punished. They are the real culprits.
 
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