The Senate Special Committee on Performance of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) constituted a sub-committee to investigate the matter of sale of a PIA Airbus A-310 to a German firm in "violation" of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules, besides investigating the role of Air Commodore Imran Akhter among others reportedly involved in the scandal.
The committee met with Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah in the chair here on Thursday where it discussed the matter regarding the sale of the PIA Airbus A-310 to a German firm in "violation" of PPRA rules.
Advisor to Prime Minister on Civil Aviation Mehtab Khan Abbasi said that due to lack of ownership by management/ employees, non-professional and industrial approach, PIA has not only lost legacy but also integrity. The committee observed that PIA is literally collapsing and till structural reforms, its revival is difficult.
The sub-committee will comprise Senators Farhatullah Babar, Tahir Hussain Mashhadi and Nauman Wazir Khattak and will investigate Air Commodore Imran Akhter's and others' role in the scandal.
Mehtab Abbasi informed the committee that Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) are already probing the matter and their inquiries are underway. The Committee directed the sub-committee to also take input from the two bodies about their progress on the matter.
The senators expressed surprise over the fact that the plane was abandoned and PIA had still paid a huge amount as a parking fee. Members were apprehensive that eight months have passed and there is no proper reply as to why and how the sale agreement was carried out. Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak observed if the plane was sold as scrap, Rs 16 million could have been earned while in this agreement the frame was sold out for just Rs 7.3 million.
Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the inquiry conducted by Civil Aviation Authority states that the summary for sale was initiated by Air Commodore Imran Mukhtar while he had said in a meeting of this Committee that he is not aware of this process. The secretary CAA when asked about any such sale agreements told the meeting that in 2014-15 C-10 aircraft were sold to the highest bidders after auction.
Senator Saleem Mandviwala asked the authority that why this process was not followed in this case and also questioned the involvement of the German CEO. It has been reported that PIACL sold one Airbus A-310 aircraft to Leipzig Museum Germany in December 2016 without following the procedures as outlined for the disposal of company assets.
The Committee underscored the need for having more flight operations between Islamabad and Quetta. Regarding closing of direct flights from Islamabad to New York, the advisor told the meeting that due to heavy losses PIA has decided to carry on with only those flight operations that are commercially viable. Due to incurrence of heavy losses on NYC route since very long PIA, is in the process of' restructuring its routes to minimize them and expand through capacity swapping on economically viable routes. On NYC route, PIA has been incurring losses to the tune of Rs 1.2 billion per annum.
Advisor to Prime Minister also told the meeting that the new deadline for completion of up gradation work at Quetta airport is 15 July 2018.
The Committee was also told that PIA is going through serious financial crisis and increase in pensions of employees is not possible. PIA has increased pension of their pensioners @ 20% in 2003, 15% in 2009 and 30% in 2013. Further increase in pension can be considered, as and when approved by the BOD, keeping in view PIACL's serious resource crunch.
The Committee expressed anguish over non-compliance of the sub-committee's recommendations after more than five months regarding structural changes required in PIA. The Committee chairperson noted that as on oversight committee it is the right of this committee to have constructive criticism on the national flag carrier that is literally collapsing and its issues are piling up.
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