Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday that the restructuring and reforming process in the PIA is imperative to make it a financially viable organisation.
According to a press statement issued by PM Office media wing, the Prime Minister stated this while chairing a high level meeting which was attended by Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Minister for Information Senator Shibli Faraz, Advisor on Reforms Dr Ishrat Hussain, Special Assistant Lt Gen (retd) Asim Salim Bajwa and other senior officials.
Addressing the meeting, the Prime Minister said that due to the coronavirus pandemic, the country’s economy was facing difficulties.
He said the people had to bear the burden of billions of rupees worth of losses on a monthly basis which is suffered by the state-owned entities.
With regard to the current situation, it was imperative to expedite restructuring and reforms process in the PIA.
The Prime Minister stressed upon bringing down expenditures of the organisation, focusing on increasing its income and financial resources, and the upgradation of its fleet.
He added that special attention should be paid to the PIA owned domestic and foreign assets, which could be utilised through in a transparent manner. The assets should create financial resources for the organisation instead of becoming a burden on the general public, he observed.
During the last 12 years, he said, ten heads of the organisation had been changed.
In his briefing, Chief Executive Officer of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Air Marshal Arshad Malik Monday apprised the Prime Minister Imran Khan that in the prevailing situation, the national flag carrier was running a loss of around Rs 6 billion per month.
He said that a sum of Rs 24 billion was being spent yearly on the payment of salaries to its 14,500 employees alone.
The CEO also apprised the Prime Minister about the progress regarding investigation into the Karachi plane crash, handing over of bodies to their bereaved families and payment of compensation amount to the heirs of the plane crash victims, the PM Office media wing in a press release said.
Arshad Malik also gave a detailed briefing on the restructuring, improvement in the financial discipline, better and effective utilisation of the PIA’s assets, and the strategy regarding other related issues.
He said due to the prevailing situation, the airline industry throughout the world had been affected and reforms in that regard were carried out in the PIA.
