Eyes on skies - when will PIA take off?
Pakistan
Eyes on skies - when will PIA take off?
By Salman Khan
LAHORE: Who can forget the fateful day of May 22, 2020 when the country witnessed one of the worst airplane disasters in its history.
A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK 8303 crashed in Karachi’s Model Colony at a stone’s throw from the airport while making a second attempt at landing.
Ninety-seven people on board lost their lives in the blink of an eye, leaving countless people in tears. The fact that the accident took place just a couple of days ahead of Eidul Fitr made it all the more poignant.
The tragedy was too painful to be expressed in words or measured in numbers. We don’t intend to go into details of how and where things went wrong, and what happened afterwards.
The crash and the memories of those haunting moments seem an apt metaphor for the nosedive of the national flag carrier in its tumultuous journey.
Fading symbol of pride
Once a symbol of pride for the country and true to its slogan “Great people to fly with”, the national flag carrier has seen better days. It was the envy of the world because of the expertise of its pilots, engineers, and quality of service.
Now it is being seen as a microcosm of the country, with people saying PIA stands for “Perhaps I’ll Arrive” or “Please Inform Allah”.
Financial nosedive
The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) continues to face one problem after another resulting in disruption of flights and loss of public trust. Today, it is struggling for its very survival due to economic crunch.
The organisations working with the PIA have refused to come to its rescue owing to its failure to clear dues.
Eleven aircraft of PIA have been grounded and it has now 18 airplanes most of which are not being operated due to cash crunch. As the airlines has failed to make payments to the state-owned PSO, the latter has stopped supply of fuel.
Passengers are facing a great deal of inconvenience and forced to switch to other companies for air travel or other modes of communication.
Information gleaned by Dunya News revealed that the PIA owed $40 million to Saudi Arabia and $3 million to Istanbul airport besides lagging in payment of $25 million lease amount for the aircraft it is using. It is facing a monthly deficit of Rs12 billion and the total loss sums up to Rs112 billion.
Amid the crisis, the PIA is unable to pay salaries to its employees and meet other expenses.
Privatisation plan
As the PIA is facing the question of survival, the government is contemplating privatisation of the organisation to keep it afloat. It has assigned the task to the ministry concerned.
It is learnt that efforts are afoot to bifurcate the PIA. The authorities have sought advice from adviser on finance. Whether it will be bifurcated or put under some company which will acquire all its assets and fleet remains to be seen.
More importantly, only time will tell whether the new scheme of things will help the PIA take off.
