ISLAMABAD: The apex court allowed Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to fill 205 vacant positions, including pilots, cabin crew, and IT specialists.
A two-judge bench comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Ayesha A Malik on Wednesday heard the PIA’s plea seeking permission for the recruitment of 250 skillful workers.
PIA CEO Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Amir Hayat said the national airline’s profit for the last six months is Rs3 billion and flights are operating on profitable routes. He stated in order to revitalise PIA and ensure its financial stability, the operation of profitable flights and the commencement of new international and national routes will be started.
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Justice Ijaz remarked that the flight staff of other airlines is less, and questioned if the recruitment will be on a permanent or on a contractual basis. The PIA CEO responded that the recruitment will be on a one-year renewable contract basis. The court allowing the recruitment of 205 employees directed the national carrier’s administration to make the recruitment process clear and transparent.
Earlier, Justice Ayesha Malik questioned; “Why PIA is not able to pay its dues and why does it have to recruit more people?” Justice Ijaz said the quality of services of the PIA is not up to the mark, adding that new recruitments will burden the organisation by more than Rs90 million.
The PIA in its fresh application had stated that there were a number of key positions currently lying vacant which are required to be filled in order to ensure smooth operations of the organisation.
“Without the induction of the said new employees the airline will not be able to meet its operational requirements and could once again run into financial difficulties as a result of not being able to operate at full capacity.”
According to the PIA report, submitted to the Supreme Court in January this year, the total number of employees in PIA since 2018 is 5,793, out of that 1,199 employees pertain to flight operations (pilots), flight services (cabin crew), finance and IT department and no fresh hiring has been made, whereas, the immediate requirement is 250 employees for the year 2023. It said: “Because of the Supreme Court’s ban on new recruitments since 2018, Pakistan International Airlines is facing an extreme shortage of professional and skilled employees in the areas of flight operations; services; information and technology; and finance.”
The PIA report forecast that domestic traffic would grow from 3.2 million passengers in 2022 to 4.6 million in 2026 (PIA market share 54 per cent).
International traffic would grow from 10.7 million passengers in 2022 to 19.1 million in 2026 (PIA market share 27 per cent) with major market expansion in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the UK, Canada, the US, Australia, Afghanistan, Central Asian states, Malaysia, and Turkey, it estimated.
“Due to [an] increase in domestic and international passenger traffic, additional pilots and cabin crew will be required, to manage the increased flight operations,” said the report.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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