Former Senior Vice President of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Abdul Basit has demanded the government to constitute a high powered committee comprising public and private sector representatives to run the huge-deficit carrying Public Sector Enterprises like Pakistan International Airlines, Pakistan Railways and Pakistan Steel Mills.
In a statement on Friday, he said the national flag carrier is following the steps of Pakistan Railways and is in loss of Rs 144 billion with deliberate default of payment of repairs, causing grounding of planes and fabricating excuse for buying 39 planes at an estimated cost of $2.5 billion in violation of PPRA rules.
He said that both PIA and PR are on the verge of collapse, with the national flag carrier having to cancel over a dozen flights because of shortage of aircraft and railways having to halt all trains from the Lahore region because of unavailability of diesel.
Abdul Basit said that there are a number of high profile people attached with PIA but nobody in the airline was willing to address the issues being faced by it. He said that the large-scale political appointments have destroyed the record-making airline. He said that all over the world 100 to one planes standard is in vogue but it is very unfortunate that in case of PIA it is 400 to one plane that has jacked up the salary level of the national flag carrier to the level that it always in need of funding and today the situation has reached alarming levels.
He said that political appointments are not only causing a huge loss but the standard of services provided by PIA is going down by every passing day. The situation is worse for international destination and people tend to opt for other foreign airlines. The airline is in shambles due to political hiring by every government in power, which is a huge burden on the airline's kitty.
He said that the PIA's inefficiency was more evident than it has been for years. And it isn't only these delayed flights and the stranded passengers that have plagued PIA and its passengers but a number of things which include the poor condition of the air-planes, the shortage of the planes themselves, crash landings and an administration that can barely be bothered.