KARACHI: The management of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) caused alarm while giving a briefing to a Senate committee on Wednesday when it informed them that PIA was incurring losses of Rs 5.6 billion per month while its total liabilities had crossed the Rs 300 billion mark. The panel was shocked to hear that PIA earned around Rs 7.5 billion a month while the expenses incurred every month totaled to over Rs 13.14bn.
Sources privy to the development informed that the PIA management apprises the senate of its major monthly expenses. These expenses include over Rs 4.4 billion in loan and mark-up repayments, over Rs 2.6 billion in fuel and over Rs 1.6 billion in salaries. The total liability of Rs 300 billion consists of Rs 186 billion of bank loans, Rs 40 billion of Civil Aviation Authority charges/ dues, Rs 13. 5 billion of charges owed to the Pakistan State Oil and over Rs 4.5 billion owed to the Federal Bureau of Revenue.
It is pertinent to mention that the Senate committee had arranged this briefing so that it can gauge the performance of the national carrier. The three- member panel which was tasked with reviewing PIA’s performance was headed by Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional, General Abdul Qayoom of the PML-Nawaz and Farhatullah Babar of the Pakistan People’s Party.
Upon receiving the alarming information on PIA’s crippling debt situation, the senators subjected the airline management to intense questioning. They put forth the question on how such a huge loss had been accumulated, under whose tenure had this situation started to worsen, and why the PIA management was complacent in face of these rising issues and why they had taken no measures to ease the situation. The senators expressed their severe reservations that the management of PIA had not provided the committee with the required information that had been requested during its last meeting.
The committee chief also expressed apprehension over the qualifications of the members of the PIA board of directors. He lamented the fact that none of them had received proper education and training with regards to aviation management. Shah asked the committee that how people with no training in aviation could implement a vision for the improvement of the affairs of the airline. He further directed the management of PIA to apprise the committee of the required qualification and experience for becoming a director in PIA along with the portfolios of the incumbent directors for review.
Furthermore, the committee also shed light on the controversial issue whereby a PIA aircraft was leased to a foreign firm for filming in Malta and later sold for just 50,000 Euros. The committee questioned the management on why any explanation for this incident had not been given yet. Senator Qayoom expressed his disappointment on the lax attitude of the management and its inability to provide any input during the briefing. He asked the management to put forth its recommendations to the committee, so that the committee could come up with a plan for the revival of the airline.
PIA acting CEO Bernd Hildenbrand said that poor aviation policy had resulted in the dismal financial performance of the airline. He added that the PIA had an old fleet and was facing difficulties in competing with airlines with modern aircraft such as Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways. He added that even under these conditions, PIA had managed to get more passengers and generate more revenue than the previous year.
