Apropos the letter by Tahir Hassan published in your esteemed daily on July 27, 2006, the facts are contrary to the baseless allegations made by the writer which does not know the ground realities.
Such similar letters have been sponsored by some disgruntled ex-PIA employees who were themselves in senior management positions in the past and thus responsible for PIA's current problems.
To set the record straight, we take exception to the improper term used for PIA's valued customers. PIA holds its customers in the highest esteem and all endeavours are being made to provide the best possible services to them. PIA currently follows the laid down procedures in all acquisitions which include aircraft as well.
Tenders for purchase/lease or sale are floated in leading national and international print as well as electronic media. All bids are invited in sealed envelops which are opened on a pre-determined time and day in front of all the available bidders by a committee of senior executives, thus making the entire process transparent. The bidders are also satisfied with the transparent procedures adopted by PIA.
We have never received a single complaint from any bidder that the procedure adopted by PIA was not transparent. PIA does not involve agents/middlemen in such transactions. Accordingly in all agreements signed by PIA whether for lease, purchase or sale, a clause is added stating that no broker, agent or middleman was involved in this transaction and no commission or fee has been given by either party. In other words the seller/lessor/buyer is contractually bound by PIA not to involve any intermediary as per government requirements.
As for the losses being incurred by the airline, the main reason is the sky-rocketing fuel prices on which nobody has any control and which have affected the whole aviation industry. It may be mentioned that the fuel cost which was 27% of the total revenue in 2004 ie only two years back, has jumped to 47% of the total revenue this year.
It would be pertinent to mention that despite incurring heavy losses, due to commercially unviable fares, PIA was operating Fokker fleet for facilitating the travel needs of people in the far-flung areas of the country.
The decision to lease one F27 aircraft till December 2006 was taken to fill the capacity gap created by grounding of two F27 aircraft after completion of their design life.
This was done purely for the sake of public convenience as we did not want to reduce the operation. The aircraft would have been returned to the lesser in December 2006 as PIA would have received three ATR42-500 aircraft by then. These were ordered by the current management on priority basis.
Lastly, PIA itself is perturbed over the tragic loss of life in the recent crash of one of its Fokker aircraft and shares the sorrow and grief of all the family members of the passengers, including PIA's own employees as well as cockpit and cabin crew. Relevant agencies are currently investigating the cause of the accident.
(The writer is General Manager,Public Affairs and Communication.)