Our Great People have paid a colossal $1.2 billion for eight B777s, out of which only three or four are extended long range B7E7s. This $1.2 billion paid for by PIA,does not include the cost of seats, in-flight entertainment equipment etc.
Is there anybody in Islamabad, who has the moral courage to probe into this controversial deal done by PIA, or are we to presume, that it has the blessings of the high officials. PIA has now signed a deal for lease of A-310s, with substandard instrumentation and major structural flaws.
One of these A-310s was involved in a recent air miss collision with an Air Blue aircraft. The PIA aircraft had a chronic faulty altimeter as reported by an on-line newspaper. The recent increase in frequency of accidents involving PIA aircraft, should have given a wake-up call to its management, which is living in a fantasy world of its own. A top-heavy PIA management, most of whose executives have innumerable files of alleged corruption pending against them, has failed to get up from its slumber.
God Forbid if a fatal accident were to happen, who will be held responsible. PIA needs a team of honest professionals, who have no skeletons to hide or personal business ventures and no conflicts of interest. PIA does not need an Air Marshal nor a General, what it needs is a man of the capability of Rafique Saigol. The airline has still not recovered from the mess created by AVM Viqar Azeem, General Rahim, Syed Aijaz Ali, Khurshid Anwar, Arshad Mahmud and their likes.
The present chairman, a man from the private sector, has failed to compile a team of honest professionals. What he has gathered around is Yes-Men, who conspire against each other and feed him with figures that do not exist in reality.
PIA is a State-owned commercial enterprise, owned by the tax payer, who has a right to know what is happening. It is not the fiefdom of this establishment, or of its employees, nor is it a property of the ministry of Defence. It is there to serve the people of Pakistan, provide them with a reliable mode of air travel, at an affordable price. It can do that only if PIA is eradicated of all the allegedly corrupt executives, that monopolise its executive corridors.
The airline has a loyal clientele of expatriate Pakistanis and abundant revenue cargo market. All that is expected of PIA, is to provide a courteous service, a one-window reservation system and competitive rates. Unfortunately the biggest abuser of PIA has been the government, which decides what aircraft to buy, the price to pay, and who to promote, hire or post to a foreign destination.
The former PM, Ch. Shujaat, had his pilgrimage to Madinah Munawarah, cut short by the presence of an alcoholic country manager within the sacred walls of Masjid e Nabvi. PIA has now posted another sick man to London and numerous complaints hare been filed against him.