The newly appointed Managing Director of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), will have to put his best foot forward in pulling the national carrier out of its present morass to once again make it worthy of claiming "Great people to fly with", aviation circles here believe.
Wishing Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman (Retd) well, they are of the opinion that he has taken over charge when the airline is facing daunting challenges of not only revamping the huge human resources and financial loopholes but also restoring the glory of the past. The airline management under his command would have to seriously and effectively check the flaws in flight operations which previous management did not consider worthy of attention, they said.
To restore the past good image of the airline, governance will have to be improved by placing professional managers in key positions to run the airline which is presently manned by staff appointed on political considerations. To begin with, it is important that Rao Suleman looks into the latest in the series of setbacks at foreign destinations, the most lucrative and important station, Jeddah, where flight operation delays have become a routine.
This appears to have become a regular feature as earlier; PIA was reprimanded by the British aviation authorities over delays and lax safety. This time, the national airline has been warned by the Saudi civil aviation authorities to ensure its scheduled landing time for the summer flights "or be ready to shift night landings to the day time," which will result in inconvenience to PIA passengers. The new MD PIA, aviation circles said, will have to take stern action by appointing efficient staff at strategic positions in all departments to send message to all ranks that merit will be the only criteria, otherwise the sloppy flight operation will get further sluggish as currently the airline is plagued with redundant staff.
Saudis have pointed out that frequent arrival and departure delays by the PIA flights disturb the schedules of other airlines at the busy airports of Jeddah and Riyadh. "Officials of PIA in Saudi Arabia have passed on the reservations of the Saudi aviation authorities to the PIA headquarters with a request to give an undertaking that the summer flights would adhere to the scheduled timings," according to a source in PIA. Since, they are closely monitoring all the PIA flights there, any slippage in this regard would cost PIA dearly, he said.
Earlier King AbdulAziz International Airport (KAIA) Authority in Jeddah had shifted PIA flight operations to Hajj terminal from normal terminal for delays and carrying mostly Umrah passengers on regular flights. The source said that since January 1, 2012 till the end of March almost 400 flights from different cities of Pakistan to/from Jeddah got delayed out of nearly 500 flights. During the same period, around 50 flights to/from Medina also got delayed out of 60 flights.
On the other hand, concerned PIA officials have warned the management that shifting of flight landings in Saudi Arabia from night to day time would upset the schedule of almost all other PIA flights. Therefore, it was advised to strictly follow the schedules, said the source.
Director Marketing PIA in one of his communications to the management said "the concerns shown by General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) in Saudi Arabia and KAIA need to be taken seriously. It is requested that we must maintain punctuality to avoid any untoward situation in PK''s operations. All efforts be made to maintain all departures/arrivals as per schedule filed with the Regulatory Authorities."
He further said: "It may please be noted that the Saudis are very rigid and if once they decide they can ask PK to shift its operation in day times. Such concerns have time and again been highlighted by GACA/KAIA in certain meetings with the local PK authorities."
"Shifting of operations to day times will not only hamper other PK network operation but it will also give a bad name to the national flag carrier. Such a bad impression also affects market and definitely passengers will also be disturbed and divert to other carriers," he added. The airports in Saudi Arabia are most lucrative for PIA''s business, but PIA''s indifferent attitude towards these stations will land it in trouble.