Public Accounts Committee puts the heat on PIA management

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

PAC criticises performance of PIA management

Reference:
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday termed the management of the national-flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) as non-professional while saying that its services were very expensive, and these were the factors due to which the organisation had been running in losses for the last several years.

MNA Noor Alam Khan told the committee that the PIA takes special care of its own people only and never bothers to serve the customers, which are major revenue-generating sources for the organisation. On his return from Jeddah to Islamabad, he said that the PIA officials had provided such poor service to the business class ticket-holders, it was only a matter of question what could have been the standard of the economy class. Khan regretted that on flights from Peshawar to Gulf countries, PIA was using aircrafts that were more than 30-years-old with almost zero services and facilities. As the majority of the people going to the Gulf countries were from the labour class, the airlines had failed miserably to serve them properly causing a lot of problems for them. The MNA regretted that the PIA management had never tried to improve its efficiency or attitude with its customers, which he said was the main reason the organisation, was suffering losses. Khan alleged that PIA officials always misbehave with their passengers, compelling them to fly with other private airlines.

MNA Yasmeen Rehman claimed that the PIA was an unprofessional airline. She said that the PIA management had not submitted any reply to the PAC in time and always used delay tactics. Yasmeen directed the PIA managing director (MD) and secretary defence to take appropriate measures for improving efficiency and turn the organisation into a professional one.

She also claimed that there was discrimination against female workers in the PIA, who always complained to the female parliamentarians. The MNA said that the female workers were usually given such tasks, which they were hesitant to undertake and asked the PIA MD to improve the working conditions for the female workers. Discussing different audit paras relating to the PIA, the audit informed the PAC that irregular appointments had been made by the PIA management in the engineering department without the approval of the board or the prime minister, which had caused the organisation a loss of Rs 1.167 billion. The audit officials said that the airline was already running in heavy losses and the retention of excess staff would further aggravate its financial position.

Ministry of Defence Secretary Syed Athar Ali and PIA MD Nadeem Yousafzai informed the committee that an inquiry had already been completed in the matters and responsibility had been fixed. But all the officials concerned had left the organisation, they maintained. For the regularisation of the officials, a summary had been sent to the prime minister’s secretariat. The PAC had left the para pending until a response had been received from the PM’s Secretariat in this regard.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

ISLAMABAD:

The Pakistan International Airlines is seeking injection of billions of rupees in taxpayer money mainly to buy 16 new aircraft and overcome losses under a five-year revival plan, as the carrier’s losses have crossed Rs96 billion.

In a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday, the office of the Auditor General of Pakistan disclosed that there was no truth in the claim that the PIA was running into operating profit in 2010 as the state-owned entity suffered Rs16 billion losses and further Rs4.3 billion losses in just three months (January-March) of this year. PIA’s financial year runs from January to December.

The director general commercial audit said that in just three years PIA’s losses have increased by Rs23.6 billion. In 2008, the airline’s accumulated losses stood at Rs73 billion, which by March 2011 soared to Rs96.6 billion, he added.

According to the PIA presentation, in 2010 the national flag carrier earned Rs107.5 billion revenue, which was Rs12 billion less than the target. Its expenses on fuel and oil increased to Rs44.7 billion from Rs31.5 billion in 2009. Other than fuel, expenses stood at Rs54.5 billion from Rs50.8 billion a year ago.

“PIA has Rs140 billion in debt, half of which was obtained for purchasing aircraft and its servicing is a constant burden on the entity,” said Defence Secretary Syed Athar Ali.

Last year, PIA paid Rs9.3 billion in debt servicing, Rs1.8 billion on account of fleet debt and Rs7.5 billion in non-fleet debt, shows the latest balance-sheet of the airline.

The DG commercial audit disclosed that the PIA’s short-term loans are increasing alarmingly, which will cause very serious financial problems in the years to come.

“Money is not a substitute for the efficiency as even Rs100 billion subsidy to PIA cannot yield results,” said Yasmeen Rehman, acting chairperson of PAC.

PIA Managing Director Captain Nadeem Yousufzai said that the airline’s five-year revival plan for 2010-14 is pending with the finance ministry, as the entity needs significant financial support for debt restructuring and buying new aircraft. He said under the plan PIA would increase its revenue from Rs94 billion in 2009 to Rs217 billion by December 2014.

He, however, said this would not be possible without adding 16 new aircraft in a fleet of just 40 and restructuring of the debt stock of Rs140 billion. He said this would also depend on 21 per cent depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar in the next four years.

For rationalisation of the workforce, PIA intends to send 4,339 employees on deputation to other allied departments, which would ensure Rs3.8 billion savings in five years, said Yousufzai.

Illegal appointments

In a case of illegal appointment of 618 employees in the airline, including eight re-hired after retirement, the defence ministry has fixed responsibility on some high-profile officials. The defence secretary said out of 618 employees, eight were hired in violation of rules. He said according to the findings, former PIA chairman Tariq Kirmani was mainly responsible.

$11m contract for kitchen services

In February 2006, PIA awarded a kitchen management contract to Singapore Airport Terminal Services Limited (SATS) at a price of $11 million, which the defence secretary termed “an ill-conceived contract”. He said interestingly Singapore Airlines was availing kitchen services from a Pakistani company. During the years, SATS failed to meet the targets, he added.

 

[Darth Vader]

in 1960 PIA was the 2nd air lines now..i thnk its the worst of all frm norway to pak it cast 8000 krone and from norway to newyork it cast 3800 krone =)) by some other airline with a lot better service ...so what shd me doo now

 

[Respect4Respect01]

Its shame that some ppl just ruin the reputation of whole nation just because of money.