APTA/non-APTA: PIA officials held responsible for 'mishandling'

The government Friday strongly recommended action against the officials of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) responsible for 'mishandling' the case of Association of Pakistan Travel Agents (APTA)/non-APTA agents, causing losses worth billions of rupees to the national flag carrier.
According to the audit report of Pakistan International Airline Corporation (PIACL) for the period from 2006 to 2016, the loss faced by the PIA due to out-of-court settlement made with the APTA/non-APTA agents by the PIA management was of Rs 2.3 billion, whereas misappropriation by the agents at the PIA London station was to the tune of Rs 184.853 million.
The special audit also found out billions of rupees losses due to misuse of revenue business designators (RBDs) by the travel agents in connivance with the revenue management at PIA head office.
The PIA had to face a Rs 3 billion loss due to poor planning of the management (low seat factor, non-achievement of sales targets, etc) on the London sector. The losses of Rs 3.2 billion had been caused by Premier Service flight operations alone.
The audit also figured out that the PIA allowed the passengers to travel free-of-cost which cost it Rs 1.8 billion. The audit report further found out non-recoveries from the agents and other parties which added Rs 35 million of the loss to the PIA.
Apart from this, the audit report recommended actions against the agents who misappropriated the amount/air tickets as well as concerned officers who did not initiate action against the agents. However, the matter might be investigated at higher level regarding irregular authorization of RBDs.
The planning and controlling of RDBs may be given high weightage to minimize the losses, the audit report recommended. It further stated that the said area of planning, allocating and authorizing RBDs may only be assigned to the highly qualified and reputed officers to avoid misuse of RBDs.
The audit further suggested moving the matter to higher level to fix responsibility for launching of Premier Service which caused a huge loss to the PIA.