Management and employees of National flag carrier are jointly striving to bring back the lost glory of PIA by cutting costs where possible and bringing efficiencies in operations through regular consultation at all levels. This was stated by Captain Suhail Baloch president Pakistan Air Line Pilots Association (PALPA) while talking to journalists in Karachi.
Flanked by Captain TM Rabbani general secretary PALPA and management representatives, the President PALPA said that from the platform of Joint Action Committee of PIA employees (JACPIAE) the employees had announced that they would not leave any stone unturned to make the national flag carrier a national pride when the Federal Government had agreed to their demand.
The newly appointed Managing Director PIA Captain Nadeem Yousuf Zai is a dedicated and hardworking employee of the airline, who is not only standing by the employees in this quest, but is also appreciating the suggestions given by them and implementing the cost cutting measures suggested by the committee.
MD PIA Nadeem Yousuf Zai constituted a Cost-Cutting Committee and nominated President PALPA, Captain Suhail Baloch as Chairman of the committee giving a task of suggesting immediate cost-cutting measures to reduce the operational expenditures of the airline by utilising all possible options, including the scheduling of national and international routes and destinations within a controlled budget.
Captain Baloch said that Captain Nadeem has ordered to form this committee to immediately overcome the problems being faced by airline. He said that the airline, which earns revenue of more than 100 billion, was suffering losses due to inefficient planning of the previous regime.
He said that there was a time when the national carrier was carrying out engine overhaul, not only for most of its fleets but for other international airlines. This practice has been outsourced. PIA can save at least Rs 800 million a year if in-house overhauling is reintroduced.
Captain Baloch said that PIA already has an experienced executive Saleem Sayani, who has huge experience on such projects and a good repute world-wide in this business, using his experience PIA can attract huge business of overhauling etc. The experienced members of the committee have achieved a target of earmarking a saving of Rs 400 million by making slight changes in planning of crew slip, cockpit crew and cabin crew patterns.
Noor Leghari, a co-opted member of the cost cutting committee, was given special credit that owing to his vast experience of scheduling rosters, huge budget of the airline has been saved as cabin crew and cockpit crew have been assigned the flights in the manner that they would not need to stay in hotels unnecessarily.
Previously, the PIA management used to spend millions of rupees only as the staying expense of cabin crew and cockpit crew in luxury hotels at different national and international destinations. The committee immediately reviewed flawed crew layover pattern and unrealistic contracts with some hotels that were costing huge sum of money to the airline which had entered into contract with hotels at different locations for accommodating its flying crew.
The committee has also suggested some measures in aircraft operations that all other airlines take to improve efficiency and cut costs without compromising the quality of air travel. The committee has pointed out discrepancies in the operations that add unnecessary additional weight in the flights resulting in higher fuel consumption and depriving the airline of the capacity to take additional cargo.
For instance, each of the PIA aircraft carries a flying pack weighing approximately 1 ton. Almost all of these parts could only be replaced after the aircraft has landed at its destination. This extra weight could be avoided by keeping the flight pack components at the landing stations. The airline could then use the additional 1000 kgs for cargo or in case the cargo is not booked, the plane would use less fuel due to lighter weight.
In the same manner, each of the PIA aircraft, when it takes off, carries full load of drinking water without considering the number of passengers on board. It should be made mandatory to fill the tanks according to the strength of the passengers. It is useless to carry 1 ton additional water if the aircraft is carrying half the number of passengers than its capacity. This practice would also save fuel of the aircraft. The airline, according to its sales record, is generating only Rs 5 billion from cargo uplift. This amount can be doubled if the managerial and higher cadre takes pain. After creating extra space for cargo, the revenues would be doubled.
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