We should treat our airline in the same manner as we treat ourselves; run it the same way we would run our personal businesses and look after it exactly as we do our homes.
Pakistan International Airlines Chairman and CEO Tariq Kirmani stated this while addressing officers and the staff of Lahore region here on Friday, a press release said.
According to details, Kirmani maintained that every business had two lines, one of expenses and the other of revenue; the third line, either of profit or of loss was drawn automatically. To earn profits in an airline business, two things were involved; one was to fill up the planes and second to take those to the air, he added.
He recalled that PIA had been doing well in the 50s, 60s and even till mid 70s when Karachi was a regional hub and our national carrier enjoyed monopoly. Things, he said changed in the late 70s, both domestically and regionally. The new technology brought in long-range aircraft and the oil boom in Middle East coupled with political change in Pakistan altered the dynamics of regional aviation business.
Kirmani lamented that for last 30 years PIA has not been doing enough to compete and live up to its past reputation. Being unable to fill up the planes it found it easy to close destination after destination.
Tariq Kirmani emphasised time had come for PIA employees to face the reality and realise that maintaining status quo would lead no where. It was the time PIA had to come out of slumber and be proactive and take right business decisions.
He said ailments faced by the PIA today's were peculiar to a public sector organisation and that he said was his conviction by experience. He mentioned the turnaround of PSO, another public sector organisation that was at its lowest when he joined the Oil Company. He said he was hopeful that PIA employees who were the biggest asset of the corporation had the talent, the knack and the will to compete and bring back its past glory, the release said.-PR