PIA to achieve break-even in 2025 [Post#362]

[Giannis]

Yes it is.

And getting planes impounded is a VERY big deal. Even bigger deal if the carrier happens to be a state-run airline.

India's Jet Airways had one of its Boeing 777s impounded in Amsterdam for non-payment of dues. The airline itself shut down a few weeks later. That's how serious it is. The aircraft is still there more than a year later.

I hope PIA can get their planes back and flying again.

It's a bigger deal for a privately owned airline, PIA won't have the same fate as it's state owned and eventually will get bailed out even if not, Pakistan has no other choice but to sustain it since it's the flag carrier

 

[Gayle_Force]

That means the government is not bailing them out, or at least haven't yet.

It’s not a private enterprise needing a ‘bail out’ from the government. PIA is directly owned by the state so any defaults (or pretty much any issue with the airline) is directly attributable to the government.

 

[MenInG]

WASHINGTON: Pakistan is considering injecting $35.58 million as second bailout package for the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, New York, that is owned by Pakistan International Airlines Investment Limited (PIAIL), a hotel industry magazine reported on Friday.

The Hotel Management, a magazine that started in 1922 in New York, also reported that Pakistan’s Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet had discussed setting up of a panel to provide this bailout package for the property.

According to the report, in September 2020, the panel approved $142m to cater to the immediate financial needs of the hotel. This amount was arranged as a loan from the National Bank of Pakistan with a per annum mark-up of $5.9m.

Additionally, it approved $13m as an annual carrying cost until a lease agreement is finalised with a joint venture partner.

The report noted that PIAIL risked losing the Manhattan property as well as the Scribe Hotel in Paris in 2019 after a court of British Islands enforced an international arbitration decision that involved handing over the two properties as settlement to Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) for cancelling its mining licence in Balochistan.

PIAIL, a subsidiary of Pakistan International Airlines, is incorporated in British Virgin Islands. TCC is a joint venture held by Barrick Gold and Antofagasta.

Pakistan had cancelled TCC’s mining licenses on Reko Diq gold and copper mines in Balochistan, citing irregularities, while TCC claimed that they were wrongly stopped from undertaking mining operations.

The hotel, which opened in 1924, has 1,015 rooms and 52 suites. Other media reports suggest that Pakistan still risks losing these valuable real estate properties in the United States and France.

In 2019, the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, a World Bank quasi court, imposed a hefty $5.97 billion fine on Pakistan in 2019 over this dispute. At one stage, Pakistan was seeking an out-of-court settlement with TCC.

DAWN

 

[MenInG]

LONDON: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Friday informed the London High Court that it has paid around $7 million to Peregrine Aviation Charlie Ltd in the case pertaining to two jets leased to it by the Dublin-based AerCap.

The development came after the Malaysian authorities seized a PIA Boeing-777 at the Kuala Lumpur airport last Friday, on the orders of a local Malaysian court, over the non-payment of aircraft lease dues owed to the Dublin-based AerCap.

Lawyers for both the PIA and the airliner sought an adjournment as they hoped that the full amount would be paid through an agreement without the court issuing an order against PIA.

Appearing online, the airline’s lawyer Erin Hitchens requested the judge to adjourn the hearing as the parties settle issues of the lease, rent, interest, lease, and the allocation of payment.

The Dublin-based AerCap's lawyer told the court: “The claimant’s position is that the sums were paid today by the defendant (PIA).”

The court was told that PIA didn’t make payments since it asked for the amendment of its claim in July and that it owed $580,000 per month to the airliner, but it didn’t pay and litigation was initiated.

The leasing company had filed a case against PIA in London High Court in October 2020 over its failure to pay the leasing fee — worth about $14 million — which had been pending for six months.

In response, PIA had maintained that since the COVID-19 pandemic had seriously affected the aviation industry, there should be a reduction in the overhead charges.

Meanwhile, the leasing company kept an eye on the activities of PIA, and as soon as it received the information of flight 895's scheduled landing in Malaysia, it appealed to a local court to seize the aircraft as per the international civil aviation leasing laws, sources added.

The Boeing 777 aircraft was seized after London High Court issued the order, an airline spokesman had said.

“A PIA aircraft has been held back by a local court in Malaysia taking a one-sided decision pertaining to a legal dispute between PIA and another party pending in a UK court,” a PIA spokesman Abdullah H Khan said in a statement at the time but today the flag carrier's lawyers raised no objections about the seizure of its plane in Malaysia.

The interim injunction ordered that the PIA is restrained from moving two aircraft in its fleet — a Boeing 777- 200ER with serial number 32716 and a Boeing 777- 200ER with serial number 32717 — once they have landed or parked at Kuala Lumpur International Airport until a further hearing on the matter.

GEO

 

[MenInG]

LONDON: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is in talks with Irish aircraft broker Peregrine Aviation Charlie Limited to pay about $2 million as part of an outstanding payment for an aircraft lease agreement by the Dublin-based company AerCap.

During a hearing at the High Court here on Friday, a lawyer representing PIA informed the judge that the national flag carrier had paid $7m to Peregrine as part of the lease agreement, but a dispute persists for the remainder of $2m.

The hearing was adjourned as the two parties agreed to settle the issue out of court.

It was this sticking point which formed the basis of the PIA plane’s seizure in Malaysia last week.

National flag carrier, Irish aircraft broker are settling outstanding sum out of court

At the London hearing, PIA’s lawyers objected to the seizure of its aircraft in Malaysia; however, the court did not pay heed to the development as it was the result of a court order in another jurisdiction.

In the United Kingdom, Peregrine Aviation Charlie Limited brought a case against PIA to pay dues amounting to $9m. PIA entered a lease agreement with this company which covered payments for lease rental, maintenance reserves and insurance of two aircraft, a Boeing 777 with serial number 32,716 and a Boeing 777-200ER with serial number 32,717.

According to the agreement, the lease rental charges were set at $580,000 per month and the maintenance reserves at $315,000 per month.

PIA’s position is that maintenance reserves are calculated according to the flying cycle which is logged each time the engine is started and switched off. Because this particular aircraft was grounded during the Covid-19 pandemic for six months between April and September last year, PIA argues that the maintenance cost should not be invoiced.

The aviation company, however, is of the view that the agreement does not cover Covid-19 as a force majeure which limits liability, and that PIA should pay regardless of how much the plane is flown.

It appears that due to the nature of the agreement, PIA will have to pay $2m in maintenance reserve costs despite not having flown the plane.

Currently, PIA has about 18 aircraft on lease, and for the majority of the contracts, maintenance reserve is charged based on utilisation.

According to orders passed by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Thursday seen by Reuters, the plaintiff of the case is Peregrine Aviation Charlie Limited and the matter pertains to two jets leased to PIA by Dublin-based AerCap, the world’s largest aircraft lessor, in 2015.

They are part of a portfolio that AerCap sold to Peregrine Aviation, an investment unit of NCB Capital, the brokerage arm of National Commercial Bank SJSC, in 2018.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2021

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

We were told that PIA was a profitable and professional entity now with the PTI at the helm. What happened?

When did PTI government say that PIA is profitable?

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

It's a bigger deal for a privately owned airline, PIA won't have the same fate as it's state owned and eventually will get bailed out even if not, Pakistan has no other choice but to sustain it since it's the flag carrier

Yes we do we can privatize it. There is no state run airline in the US, so the same way Pakistan does not need a state run airline. An unprofitable route that the government wants a private airline to fly on can be a given a subsidy.

 

[Giannis]

Yes we do we can privatize it. There is no state run airline in the US, so the same way Pakistan does not need a state run airline. An unprofitable route that the government wants a private airline to fly on can be a given a subsidy.

The US is only one of the few countries without a flag carrier but American Airlines and United do have some flag carrier rights as they inherited parts of Pan-Am. Canada, Singapore, Turkey and the UK are among many other countries with successfully run flag carriers; the issue isn't the ownership but the management, they need better management, perhaps hire a foreign CEO and managers like the Gulf airlines do before you think of selling. While privatization is an attractive option, you need to realize the reason they haven't done it for so long is for security and strategic reasons, the govt does not like the idea of giving control of the airports and other sensitive infrastructure that a sale would include.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

The US is only one of the few countries without a flag carrier but American Airlines and United do have some flag carrier rights as they inherited parts of Pan-Am. Canada, Singapore, Turkey and the UK are among many other countries with successfully run flag carriers; the issue isn't the ownership but the management, they need better management, perhaps hire a foreign CEO and managers like the Gulf airlines do before you think of selling.

They have tried all that and failed to make any improvement in the airline. They even had a German CEO.


The problem is the airline has too many employees, flies on too many unprofitable routes, and has very bad service. However since the airline is state run they will always get a bailout, and instead of making necessary cuts, they want to reduce competition.

The gulf countries and Singapore are not democracies, so they can run their airlines without worrying about unions or employee rights.

Also British Airways was privatized, and Air Canada is also private. Turkish airlines has been selling shares to the public, and now majority of the shares are not owned by the government.

While privatization is an attractive option, you need to realize the reason they haven't done it for so long is for security and strategic reasons, the govt does not like the idea of giving control of the airports and other sensitive infrastructure that a sale would include.

No its because of the Union of PIA. They are a mafia, who will raise havoc if the airline gets privatized. And their is a very high political cost involved in privatizing, as the opposition parties will try to use it to their advantage.

Also privatizing the airline, is not the same as privatizing the airports.

 

[dhump]

My point is that the trolls and opportunists are mocking PTI and/or Pakistan, and are scrapping the bottom of the barrel by doing so. It's reasonable to say it's a big deal for PIA but to extrapolate that in grandiose ways to PTI or Pakistan the way these people seem to be doing is just making a mountain out of a mole hill. The way I have seen some Indians discussing online, you'd think Pakistan has defaulted on all its debts.

When our national airline will do such things our country and government will be laughing stock of the world. Rather than complaining that others are making fun of us we should fix the issues, so next time they dont have a reason to laugh on us.

I think this is a simple enough solution otherwise they are calling us what we are if it hurts us so be it.

 

[MenInG]

RAWALPINDI: A flight steward of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) reportedly went missing in Canada soon after the airline’s flight PK-798 landed in Toronto on Friday.

According to sources, the steward boarded the PIA flight from Islamabad and disappeared after reaching Toronto. The matter was brought to the notice of PIA’s station manager in Canada who later informed the airport authority about the flight attendant’s absence without intimating his seniors.

The sources said the airline management had taken notice of the matter and launched a departmental inquiry into disappearance of the crew member. PIA also informed the Canadian immigration authorities about the missing of the crew member.

A spokesman for PIA said on Sunday that the steward had gone missing on Friday after the flight landed in Toronto. “He has still been missing,” he added.

 

[Firebat]

PIA to confiscate passports of crew after steward goes missing in Canada

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) issued new directives on Monday for its cabin crew that include confiscation of passports on arrival abroad in a bid to control recent incidents of staff "slipping away" in other countries.

PIA General Manager Flight Services Aamir Bashir issued the new guidelines and said "the steps have been taken in view of the incidents of cabin staff slipping [away in other countries]."

A PIA spokesperson acknowledged that there had been two recent incidents of cabin crew going missing in Canada, adding that the matter was reported to Canadian immigration authorities.

According to an email about the new rules, seen by Dawn.com, passports of the cabin crew would be kept in the custody of the station manager after they clear immigration and customs checks post arrival in other countries.

The passports would be returned at the time of check-in on departing flights, Bashir said.

The second directive issued concerns cabin crew mobility and security. It says hotel security would be activated to ensure that every member of the cabin crew checks in on arrival and any discrepancy in staff can be reported by hotel staff.

The new rules also say that due to the prevailing pandemic situation, mobility of cabin crew would be restricted and they would not be allowed to stay out of hotel premises at night.

These measures come in place after Dawn reported that a PIA flight steward went missing in Canada soon after the airline’s flight PK-798 landed in Toronto on Friday.

According to sources, the steward boarded the PIA flight from Islamabad and disappeared after reaching Toronto. The matter was brought to the notice of PIA’s station manager in Canada who later informed the airport authority about the flight attendant’s absence without intimating his seniors.

The sources said the airline management had taken notice of the matter and launched a departmental inquiry into disappearance of the crew member. PIA also informed the Canadian immigration authorities about the missing crew member.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1604879/p...-of-crew-after-steward-goes-missing-in-canada

 

[saeedhk]

^I read two aircrew have gone missing; one male and one female.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Shop lifting, stealing from hotels, pilots being jailed for drinking then attempting to fly, staff disappearing in foreign nations, fake pilot licences - PIA don’t do themselves any favours when it come to professionalism and the way the airline is run.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

Shop lifting, stealing from hotels, pilots being jailed for drinking then attempting to fly, staff disappearing in foreign nations, fake pilot licences - PIA don’t do themselves any favours when it come to professionalism and the way the airline is run.

Also they have been involved in drug smuggling, have pilots with fake licenses, and have rioted when attempts are made to cut their perks.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Those pesky Indians are at it again.

TAXILA/RAWALPINDI: Federal Mi**nis**ter for Avia*tion Ghulam Sarwar Khan claimed on Monday that there was Indian lobby’s conspiracy behind the seizure of the Pakistan Inter*national Airlines (PIA) passenger plane in Malaysia last month.

Malaysian authorities held back the PIA plane on Jan 15 due to a British court case over the jet’s lease. The plane, however, returned to Pakistan on Friday.

Answering questions of reporters in Taxila, the minister accused the previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government of acquiring planes for PIA from a foreign firm at higher than the market value. He said the previous government’s adviser on aviation, Shujaat Azeem, allegedly tried to grab kickbacks in the lease deal of the plane. Mr Azeem, he added, was “controlled” by some Indians.

He said the lease of the said plane expired in July last year and the government had decided not to extend it.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1605013/minister-sees-indian-lobby-behind-pia-plane-seizure

 

[MenInG]

RAWALPINDI: A delegation of foreign experts is arriving in Pakistan on Monday (today) on the invitation of Adviser to the Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms and Austerity Dr Ishrat Hussain to work on a five-year corporate business plan for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

The four-member team will stay in Pakistan for 12 days during which it will undertake a business model review and also meet government officials at the finance ministry, Dr Hussain, senior government officials and the airline’s chief executive officer, Arshad Malik.

The airline’s spokesman, Abdullah Hafeez, confirmed that the team would be reaching Pakistan on Monday.

The experts, who have an extensive consultancy experience, will devise a business plan for the airline to make it profitable and sustainable.


“We will be following the government’s directives on restructuring and reforms in the airline,” the spokesman said.

Dr Hussain is supervising the reforms underway in PIA and in this context consultants had been invited to advice on the restructuring plan for the national carrier.

In November 2019, PIA had sought services of a reputed international firm with extensive aviation consulting experience to prepare a five-year corporate business plan through a tender.

The objective was to make the PIA a leading international airline and enable it to play an important role in Pakistan’s economy.

The plan will include all proposed initiatives and strategies for organisational and financial restructuring within the relevant timelines. It will also provide a detailed forecast of the financial position, performance and cash flows under different possible/recommended scenarios. It will focus on recommendations to revise capital structure and provide a viable working plan for raising future funding requirements.

The proposed plan will also give a holistic view of PIA’s current competitive position in the industry, with focus on its sales and marketing strategy for each region, route and destination.

Restructuring options will also be suggested, and the experts will advise on the best possible strategy for each area of the airline.

The PIA will support the consultant by providing available operational and/or financial information required for the development of the corporate business plan.

Earlier, the Civil Aviation Authority had granted special permission for inbound travel to the foreign experts from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Portugal on the request of the PIA administration.

The delegation will be travelling onboard Turkish Airlines flight as per the travel itinerary. However, this approval was subject to PCR testing, mandatory quarantine and other stipulations as specified by the health authorities upon arrival.

Pakistan has restricted the entry of inbound passengers from countries categorised C in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2021

 

[MenInG]

KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has said that the company has 12 Boeing 777 aircraft powered by General Electric engines, which are considered to be the safest.

The statement from PIA came after Boeing recommended suspending operations of planes fitted with Pratt & Whitney 4000-112 engines following an incident in a plane operated by US-based United Airlines.

"Boeing is actively monitoring recent events related to United Airlines Flight 328. While the NTSB [National Transportation Safety Board] investigation is ongoing, we recommended suspending operations of the 69 in-service and 59 in-storage 777s powered by Pratt & Whitney 4000-112 engines until the FAA identifies the appropriate inspection protocol,” it said on Sunday.

Read more: PIA plans to expand network in Afghanistan, increase air cargo operations

A spokesperson of the national flag carrier clarified that PIA’s Boeing 777 planes are equipped with the “safest” GE engines and added that the airline’s flight operations are normal as per its schedule.

“The engines installed in PIA aircraft are of General Electric considered to be the safest and nearly 1,000 engines are being used worldwide. PIA has 12 Boeing 777s powered by General Electric engines, the spokesperson added.

The US aircraft manufacturer further added: “We support the decision yesterday by the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau, and the FAA’s action today to suspend operations of 777 aircraft powered by Pratt & Whitney 4000-112 engines. We are working with these regulators as they take actions while these planes are on the ground and further inspections are conducted by Pratt & Whitney.”

“Updates will be provided as more information becomes available."

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Historical moment! 1st commercial flight after 17 yrs, touching down in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Swat?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Swat</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Salute?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Salute</a> to Armed Forces, defenders of the soil, KPK Govt. and the brave people & sons of Swat. <br><br>Pakistan is now open to the world. Come & explore the peace and beauty of Pakistan - CEO PIA <a href="https://t.co/4gOMC8Hsal">pic.twitter.com/4gOMC8Hsal</a></p>— PIA (@Official_PIA) <a href="https://twitter.com/Official_PIA/status/1375365515091267587?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[MenInG]

ISLAMABAD:
The Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan announced in the National Assembly on Friday that there were no concrete plans to privatize any assets of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

“The present government is very keen to make the national flag carrier, a self-reliant and profitable entity. Efforts are underway to improve the financial health of the airline by reducing its losses through various different means” the minister informed the House during question hour.

Loss-making routes have been closed and flights on profitable routes have been added which has resulted in a reduction of losses” he added.

Responding to a question, Sarwar Khan also stated that 82 pilots had been dismissed for acquiring licenses through unfair means and that a transparent mechanism was evolved and introduced, in order to ensure the issuance of licenses in a transparent manner.

“An agreement has also been signed with the UK Civil Aviation Authority and this International authority will carry out an audit of our entire Civil Aviation Authority in July this year” he further stated.

The Aviation Minister was confident this will lead to the removal of travel restrictions on the PIA among European countries and will enable the airline to regain its past glory.

The European Union aviation safety watchdog had previously decided to retain its ban on PIA from operating in EU member states, expressing its dissatisfaction over the steps taken by the Civil Aviation Authority to address licensing and safety concerns.

However recently in march, The European Union's aviation safety watchdog termed safety standards of Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as "satisfactory".

The decision was made following a two-day meeting of the European Union’s Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and CAA officials, in which representatives from Denmark, Italy and Sweden participated via video link.

During the meeting, Deputy Director-General for Regulatory Affairs Nadir Shafi Dar briefed the participants on the steps taken by the country’s aviation authority.

 

[gazza619]

Where is the minister who ruined the image of PIA and Pakistan in the world? Has he been punished severely, or is he enjoying life...

 

[MenInG]

The federal government on Wednesday approved Rs457 billion worth restructuring plan for Pakistan International Airlines to make the national flag carrier financially viable but without having a business plan in place.

The government has decided to lay off about 25% of the existing workforce or 3,500 employees of the national flag carrier, shut its non-profitable routes and share the international routes with other airlines.

What is described as the “last lifeline” of Rs457 billion to the bleeding airline, the Economic Coordination Committee sent the PIA restructuring plan to the federal cabinet for its final endorsement.

Finance Minister Hammad Azhar chaired the ECC meeting. However, the plan may not achieve the intended objectives, as it has been approved without a business plan, which would not be ready in the next six months.

The IATA Consulting firm has also started working on PIA business plan, which is expected to be finalized by September this year, the ECC was informed.

The ECC approved to split the PIA into two companies – the Good PIA that will have only Rs137 billion liabilities along with core assets, and the Bad PIA that will pick Rs457 billion liabilities and will retain the ownership of its non-core assets.

“After detailed consultation, the ECC recommended the restructuring plan of PIACL for onward submission before the Cabinet, after reconciliation of tax liability figures, with a direction to place a cap on future debt which PIACL could take against its improved balance sheet, once restructuring plan is implemented”, stated the Ministry of Finance.

In March last year, the government had directed Dr Ishrat Hussain to prepare the PIA’s restructuring plan.

“With a negative equity of Rs460 billion comprising bank loans of Rs326 billion and other payables of Rs118 billion at its balance sheet, the company neither remained a self-sustained entity commercially nor operationally efficient and sustainable,” the ECC was informed.

The company has over 14,000 employees and is operating on non- profitable routes. The options before the government were to close down PIA, privatize or restructure it.

There will be two PIA companies – the government-owned bad company that takes away the financial liabilities off the balance sheet of PIA along with some non-core assets and a new company carrying out the core business with rightsizing, rationalizing profitable routes and on remaining routes code-sharing with other airlines, capitalizing on ethnic diaspora and religious tourism and modernizing of the fleet.

Bad PIA

The documents showed that out of Rs457 billion debt, the federal government would immediately pick Rs203 billion.

According to the plan, Rs201.8 billion commercial loans secured against the sovereign guarantees will be paid by the federal government from 2021 through 2027. Meanwhile, Rs45.3 billion will be paid in this fiscal year, Rs41 billion in the next fiscal year, Rs42 billion in the 2022-23, Rs48.4 billion in 2023-24, Rs16 billion in 2025, Rs7 billion in 2026 and Rs4 billion in 2027.

The government will immediately write off its Rs55.6 billion loans that it extended to the bleeding airline. Another Rs53 billion loans taken on the PIA balance sheet will also be paid by the federal government along with Rs16 billion interest cost.

The restructuring plan envisages clearing Rs118 billion liabilities of the PIA by the federal government, preferably by writing off these liabilities by the Civil Aviation Authority (Rs86.7 billion), Pakistan State Oil (Rs16.4 billion) and Federal Board of Revenue (Rs14.7 billion).

The government will also bear the cost of Rs12.9 billion for laying off around 3,500 employees, which it has already approved.

As per the plan, if there are legal obstacles in setting up the company, the government would directly assume the liabilities and convert into equity.

Good PIA

The PIA with necessary approvals in place will submit a comprehensive plan with revised balance sheet of the Good PIA keeping in view the core business, desired workforce as per international best practices, rationalized routes and key elements of open-air policy suitable to PIA.

The Good PIA will have only Rs137 billion worth of liabilities, mainly Rs58.5 billion trade debt and Rs60.7 billion employees and aircraft lease-related liabilities.

The successive PIA managements for the last 13 years have been making promises to financially turn around the company, provided the federal government picks its legacy debt.

The ECC was informed that after three years implementation of the plan, the success indicator will be that the PIA would not seek further bailout packages.

The PIA would use its restructured balance sheet, cut its present financial liabilities to raise its capital by obtaining a credit rating from the international three credit rating agencies.

The ECC was informed that the PIA may come to a standstill in its operations as it has exhausted its commercial borrowing capacity and the decision to restructure its finances has been delayed inordinately.

The ECC took up the summary for one-time grant of Rs14.5 billion to GENCOs for onward payment to DISCOs regarding the actuarial value of pension and pension benefits of surplus employees and also taking over the liability for payment of pension to existing pensioners of power plants which are decided to be closed immediately by the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCOE).

After seeking detailed input from relevant stakeholders, the committee directed the Power Division to deliberate further and present options for cost optimization regarding pension liabilities.

The government had closed 1,800 megawatts capacity power plants, which led to surplus staff of 1,753. The Power Division had demanded Rs14.5 billion to pay off their dues along with picking pension cost of the retired around 2,368 employees of these power plants.

The ECC approved Rs330 million for the Ministry of Defence to maintain the aircraft. It also approved Rs2.4 billion for the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training for the Prime Minister’s Special Package to implement “Skill for All” strategy for TVET sector.

The body also okayed Rs1 billion for the Finance Division to refund the balance amount of funds of Insaf Imdad Ehsaas Programme.

The Rs280 million for the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications was approved for consultancy and implementation of internet voting.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2293696/govt-approves-rs457b-pia-restructuring-plan

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.msn.com/en-ae/money/news/pia-operations-to-eu-suspended-indefinitely/ar-BB1ft49k?ocid=msedgntp

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has indefinitely suspended all of Pakistan International Airlines' operations to the EU.

According to Dawn, the EASA has instructed the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority to get its safety audit done by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, scheduled in July 2021.

The EASA had suspended PIA from operating flights to European Union member countries for six months in July 2020 due to safety concerns; the agency decided to extend this suspension until March 31, 2021 for an additional three-month period. However, the EASA has stated that the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) made public a significant safety concern for Pakistan, which was an indication of a serious degradation of PCAA certification and oversight capabilities. Such information shall be taken into consideration by EASA when lifting the suspension, the agency stated.

"However, in view of the ICAO audit of Pakistan, scheduled in summer 2021, the ongoing technical consultations with the PCAA and due to exceptional circumstances arising from the current Covid-19 crisis and the consequent travel restrictions, EASA opted not to revoke TCO Authorisation but to further extend the suspension period until all necessary information is available to decide on the way forward," a letter from the EASA stated.

 

[MenInG]

State-owned Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has expressed high expectations about a full-fledged return to the skies in the second half (Jul-Dec) of 2021 after most of its aircraft were grounded in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak in the country in February 2020.

The loss-making airline has voiced hope that a boost to its flight operations will help turn around its financial performance. The company has held negotiations with financial institutions for rescheduling its loans, returned a couple of leased aircraft to foreign firms and slashed its workforce by 1,900-2,000 employees (or 14%) by offering them voluntary separation scheme (VSS).

“Passenger numbers are expected to grow to 2.8 billion in 2021,” PIA Chief Executive Officer Air Marshal Arshad Malik said in the Annual Report 2020 dispatched to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday.

The expected number of passengers in 2021 would be one billion more than in 2020, but still 1.7 billion travellers short of the 2019 figure, he said.

With likely partial reopening of borders by mid-2021 (with widespread availability of vaccines), overall revenues are expected to grow, but they will still be less than those achieved in 2019.

“By the end of 2021, stronger revenues will improve the situation, but the first half of 2021 looks extremely challenging,” he said. “Airline’s financial performance is expected to see a significant turn for the better in 2021, even if historically deep losses prevail.”

“Passenger yields are expected to be flat and the load factor is expected to improve to 72.2% (an improvement over 65.5% in 2020, but still below the 82.5% achieved in 2019),” the report read.

During 2020, the airline operated higher number of flights (45%) on Middle East routes, followed by 31% on domestic routes, according to the annual report.

It operated 10% flights on European routes, 2% each on Far East Asia and US-Canada routes and 12% on other routes.

PIA used to operate 100-110 flights on a daily basis with around 34 aircraft in its fleet prior to the pandemic outbreak, it was learnt.

Year 2020 proved to be the worst year in the history of global airlines as the pandemic caused the largest losses to air carriers after World War-II, the report said.

“However, during Covid-19 period, charter revenue of the company increased significantly due to special charter flights operated by the company,” said PIA in its annual report.

PIA booked a net loss of Rs34.64 billion in the year ended December 2020 compared to a loss of Rs52.6 billion in 2019, according to the report.

The airline has a negative equity of Rs460 billion comprising bank loans of Rs326 billion and other payables of Rs118 billion in its balance sheet, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet was informed some time ago.

The ECC recently approved a restructuring plan worth Rs457 billion for PIA to control its losses over the next three years by paying off some of the pervious debt and writing off some of the loans.

The plan envisaged that the airline would be bifurcated into two parts -good PIA and bad PIA - to fix its financial woes.

The annual report said that the cargo segment of PIA was expected to continue its strong performance due to improved business confidence and the important role that air cargo played in vaccine distribution.

A persistent capacity crunch due to slow re-introduction of belly capacity (aircraft types with combined passenger and freight capacity) from passenger services combined with a higher proportion of time and temperature-sensitive cargo (vaccines) will see a further increase in yields.

“This will contribute to the strong performance in cargo revenues, which are expected to grow,” it said.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2295841/pia-expects-full-recovery-in-2nd-half-of-2021

 

[MenInG]

Pakistan International Airlines Corp. will lay off half of its 14,000 employees, replace some of its fleet and permanently close loss-making routes in a bid to become profitable for the first time in more than a decade.

Pakistan’s cabinet approved the carrier’s restructuring, said Ishrat Hussain, an adviser to Prime Minister Imran Khan. It also requested to explore outsourcing management contract or sale of 26% stake in the airline after improving its balance sheet, he said.

The plan follows revival attempts in the past that were blocked by protesting employees or political opposition. This time, there are “no grandiose plans to become like Emirates or Etihad or Qatar,” Hussain said in a recent interview. It will be “a very lean and efficient organization,” he said. The aim is to return PIA to profit by 2023.

That would be some turnaround for an airline whose finances and reputation have taken a beating in recent times. Even without Covid-related border restrictions, PIA was banned from key markets including the U.S. and Europe after Pakistan’s aviation minister said last year that almost a third of the nation’s pilots had fake licenses. While some turned out to be valid, the claim was enough to further dent confidence and came on the same day investigators faulted PIA flight crew for a crash in Karachi that killed 97 people.

The pandemic put PIA in an even tighter spot. More routes were closed off and it missed out on peak travel periods like the annual Hajj pilgrimage. The carrier posted a net loss of 34.6 billion rupees ($226 million) for 2020, which despite the challenges from Covid was an improvement from a deficit of 52.6 billion rupees the previous year.

Even airlines in good financial health have been left reeling because of the coronavirus, which has caused dozens to collapse and thousands of job losses globally. In its latest outlook last week, the International Air Transport Association said carriers worldwide will lose about $48 billion in 2021 as virus flareups and mutations extend the timeline for a restart of global air travel.

PIA had 30 aircraft as of Sept. 30, including 12 Boeing Co. 777s and 11 Airbus SE A320s. Hussain didn’t specify what changes would be made to the fleet, which also includes ATR aircraft, but he said the size would be “kept under 30” and include more fuel-efficient planes. PIA will no longer serve destinations such as Tokyo and Manila, Hussain said.

Pakistan vowed to cut jobs and sell non-core assets after a series of bailouts, including one of 3.2 billion rupees in June so the airline could meet interest payments. About 2,000 employees have taken voluntary redundancy already, according to the airline. Meanwhile, non-core operations such as catering and engineering will be outsourced, said Hussain, a former central bank governor.

Other assets are also being assessed, including the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, which the airline acquired during its loftier days as a symbol of Pakistani prestige. The hotel was closed last year and may be sold or redeveloped.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...tan-s-airline-fights-to-survive?sref=8HTMF4ka

 

[MenInG]

Pakistan International Airlines’ (PIA) net loss shrank 55% to Rs7.51 billion in the first quarter ended March 31, 2021 apparently due to limited flight operations amid the Covid-19 pandemic, low jet fuel prices and a significant gain from rupee depreciation.

The national air carrier had booked a net loss of Rs16.90 billion in the same quarter (Jan-Mar) of previous year, according to the company’s profit and loss statement dispatched to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday.

Accordingly, its loss per share contracted to Rs1.44 in the Jan-Mar 2021 quarter compared to Rs3.23 in the corresponding quarter of last year.

Rupee depreciation against the US dollar benefited the airline as it booked a significant exchange gain of Rs4.14 billion in the quarter under review compared to a loss of Rs6.12 billion under the same account in Jan-Mar 2020.

PIA’s share price improved Rs0.03, or 0.71%, to close at Rs4.27 with trading volume of 72,000 shares at the PSX on Friday.

The state-owned lossmaking airline reported net revenue of Rs15.50 billion for Jan-Mar 2021, which was 57% less than Rs36.44 billion in the same quarter of previous year.

However, the cost of aircraft fuel dropped 65% to Rs4.28 billion in the quarter under review compared toRs12.30 billion in the same quarter of last year.

The drop in fuel expenses came mainly due to low oil prices. Jet fuel prices had remained low due to partial suspension of international travel amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Finance cost of the airline also shrank notably to Rs6.24 billion compared to Rs9.61 billion. The decrease was mainly due to low requirement of working capital in the wake of a slowdown in flight operations. The pandemic had badly impacted PIA flight operations.

However, the chartered flights (flights on demand), including those for bringing Pakistanis back home from across the world during 2020, largely benefitted the airline, according to PIA’s Annual Report 2020.

PIA has expressed high expectations for a full-fledged flight operations in the second half (Jul-Dec) of the ongoing calendar year as a majority of its aircraft had remained grounded since the Covid-19 outbreak in the country in February 2020, according to the annual report.

On the assumption that there would be some opening of borders by mid-2021 (either through Covid-19 tests or growing availability of Covid vaccines), the overall revenues were expected to grow, but still less than what was achieved in 2019, it added.

 

[MenInG]

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Monday registered a case against two former chairmen of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), a former acting CEO, and arrested a former director of the national airline on charges of causing losses of over Rs1 billion to the exchequer.

FIA Sindh Director Amir Farooqi told Dawn the investigative body had registered a case against PIA ex-chairmen Nasser Jaffer and Irfan Elahi and former acting CEO Bernd Hildenbrand and also detained former director engineering Maqsood Ahmed.

“They caused loss of Rs1.25bn and made advance payments for upgradation of business class seats and entertainment system in years 2014-16,” the official said. “The seats were never replaced and the system never installed.”

The case has been registered under sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 109 (punishment for abetment) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and section 5 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947.

According to official documents seen by Dawn, the FIA initiated an inquiry into PIA's state of affairs under the directions of the Supreme Court, which had ordered a special audit of the airline in 2018.

The documents pointed out that the PIA Board of Directors in its 351st meeting in 2013 had approved upgrading business class seats and inflight entertainment system, changing cabin ambiance including carpets, seats, covers, curtains, side trim, toilets, gallery, business class utility pack/gift items, etc.

According to the documents, the then PIA chairman, Nasser Jaffer, approved a firm – Sogema – for changing seats of the entire fleet of Boeing 777 “dishonestly and illegally with ill motives by abusing his official position”.

The national carrier's Board of Customer Services Committee did not recommend the firm, Sogema, and it was also not the lowest bidder, the documents revealed. The FIA said Irfan Elahi, who was secretary Civil Aviation and became PIA chairman after Jaffer, and acting CEO, Hildenbrand, also "dishonestly" approved advance payments to Sogema and another firm, Panasonic, without bank guarantees and in violation of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules, the documents stated.

They further said that till November 2016, without executing any formal agreement, the PIA made advance payments of €5,331,600 and $756,449 to Sogema and Panasonic, respectively, in violation of PIA rules. “All advance payments without bank guarantee are violation of section 39 of PPRA,” the documents said.

Furthermore, “the material/items and services against which advance payments/agreements were made were never received by PIA.”

Thus, the accused persons by abusing their official position caused huge wrongful pecuniary losses to the public exchequer without the supply of any contracted goods or services from any company with their ulterior motives for their wrongful gain, the documents stated.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1625462/t...-ceo-booked-for-causing-loss-of-rs125-billion

 

[IAJ]

Any newz on when PIA can resume it’s flights from/to Europe?

 

[Bewal Express]

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Monday registered a case against two former chairmen of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), a former acting CEO, and arrested a former director of the national airline on charges of causing losses of over Rs1 billion to the exchequer.

FIA Sindh Director Amir Farooqi told Dawn the investigative body had registered a case against PIA ex-chairmen Nasser Jaffer and Irfan Elahi and former acting CEO Bernd Hildenbrand and also detained former director engineering Maqsood Ahmed.

“They caused loss of Rs1.25bn and made advance payments for upgradation of business class seats and entertainment system in years 2014-16,” the official said. “The seats were never replaced and the system never installed.”

The case has been registered under sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 109 (punishment for abetment) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and section 5 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947.

According to official documents seen by Dawn, the FIA initiated an inquiry into PIA's state of affairs under the directions of the Supreme Court, which had ordered a special audit of the airline in 2018.

The documents pointed out that the PIA Board of Directors in its 351st meeting in 2013 had approved upgrading business class seats and inflight entertainment system, changing cabin ambiance including carpets, seats, covers, curtains, side trim, toilets, gallery, business class utility pack/gift items, etc.

According to the documents, the then PIA chairman, Nasser Jaffer, approved a firm – Sogema – for changing seats of the entire fleet of Boeing 777 “dishonestly and illegally with ill motives by abusing his official position”.

The national carrier's Board of Customer Services Committee did not recommend the firm, Sogema, and it was also not the lowest bidder, the documents revealed. The FIA said Irfan Elahi, who was secretary Civil Aviation and became PIA chairman after Jaffer, and acting CEO, Hildenbrand, also "dishonestly" approved advance payments to Sogema and another firm, Panasonic, without bank guarantees and in violation of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules, the documents stated.

They further said that till November 2016, without executing any formal agreement, the PIA made advance payments of €5,331,600 and $756,449 to Sogema and Panasonic, respectively, in violation of PIA rules. “All advance payments without bank guarantee are violation of section 39 of PPRA,” the documents said.

Furthermore, “the material/items and services against which advance payments/agreements were made were never received by PIA.”

Thus, the accused persons by abusing their official position caused huge wrongful pecuniary losses to the public exchequer without the supply of any contracted goods or services from any company with their ulterior motives for their wrongful gain, the documents stated.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1625462/t...-ceo-booked-for-causing-loss-of-rs125-billion

The thing is that no one ever gets prosecuted, convicted and jailed. The law should be that any corruption over 50 lakh should not take more than 60 days from start to finish. NAB deliberately mess up the cases by calling 100s of witnesses which take years to get through.

 

[ChTab]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Justice prevails! By the grace of Allah and with the prayers of all our countrymen, courts in BVI decide in favour of PIA, releasing all hard earned assets i.e., Roosevelt NYC & Scribe Paris. Great victory for PIA and Pakistan. We won this together! ✌ <a href="https://t.co/WgVYweiwPt">pic.twitter.com/WgVYweiwPt</a></p>— PIA (@Official_PIA) <a href="https://twitter.com/Official_PIA/status/1397242255178612739?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Bewal Express]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Justice prevails! By the grace of Allah and with the prayers of all our countrymen, courts in BVI decide in favour of PIA, releasing all hard earned assets i.e., Roosevelt NYC & Scribe Paris. Great victory for PIA and Pakistan. We won this together! ✌ <a href="https://t.co/WgVYweiwPt">pic.twitter.com/WgVYweiwPt</a></p>— PIA (@Official_PIA) <a href="https://twitter.com/Official_PIA/status/1397242255178612739?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Another massive win for IK and his team. [MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] why is IK winning these cases that the crooks lost. If AL deserved a comment, surely you need to come on here. This was a mess your "competent crooks" put PK in and it was going to cost billions.

 

[MenInG]

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has decided to replace ageing aircraft with new ones in a bid to revamp the ailing state-owned entity.

In a live session on Tuesday, PIA CEO Arshad Malik said that owing to the instructions issued by the government of Pakistan, a business plan was being formulated by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which would be completed in three months.

“PIA will induct narrow-body aircraft into its fleet and it is in the process of returning 72 ATR planes, which had been acquired many years ago on expensive lease,” he said.

Answering a query about in-flight entertainment, he announced that PIA would gradually replace its aircraft with newer versions equipped with up-to-date entertainment systems.

During the session, the participants inquired about the airline’s plans to operate on new routes and resumption of commercial flights to Saudi Arabia, UAE, UK and Canada.

He replied that flights on the Gulf and Saudi Arabian routes were temporarily suspended due to the Covid-19 restrictions imposed on airlines by these countries.

Read more: Virgin Islands court unfreezes PIA assets in Reko Diq case

With regard to UK operations, he said that the British government still followed EU rules, which had been applied before Brexit deal was inked.

He pointed out that the airline was holding regular meetings with UK authorities to review the suspension of flights to the European nation.

PIA has secured safety certification from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which is valid till 2023, however, the restrictions are based on the audit of airline’s regulator – the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan – and not PIA, he said.

PIA was undergoing human resource restructuring and rationalisation due to which promotions in all departments were being done purely on merit now, he said.

“There will be no new recruitments in PIA as per Supreme Court’s orders,” he said. “The Voluntary Separation Scheme was announced with complete package and understanding of the beneficiary, who submitted affidavits to forego retirement benefits in lieu of the package.”

Malik highlighted that the management of the air carrier was focusing on enhancing training standards and facilities at the PIA Training Centre.

At present, the flying academy remains closed because PIA lacks funds to support the academy.

PIA was the only Pakistani airline which operated on socio-economic routes that were not covered by other domestic airlines, he said.

“PIA is still operating flights to domestic destinations for the national cause despite the fact that they are commercially unviable,” he said. “The airline is working to provide easy access and connections from such cities to the rest of Pakistan and the world.”

 

[finalfantasy7]

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has decided to replace ageing aircraft with new ones in a bid to revamp the ailing state-owned entity.

In a live session on Tuesday, PIA CEO Arshad Malik said that owing to the instructions issued by the government of Pakistan, a business plan was being formulated by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which would be completed in three months.

“PIA will induct narrow-body aircraft into its fleet and it is in the process of returning 72 ATR planes, which had been acquired many years ago on expensive lease,” he said.

Answering a query about in-flight entertainment, he announced that PIA would gradually replace its aircraft with newer versions equipped with up-to-date entertainment systems.

During the session, the participants inquired about the airline’s plans to operate on new routes and resumption of commercial flights to Saudi Arabia, UAE, UK and Canada.

He replied that flights on the Gulf and Saudi Arabian routes were temporarily suspended due to the Covid-19 restrictions imposed on airlines by these countries.

Read more: Virgin Islands court unfreezes PIA assets in Reko Diq case

With regard to UK operations, he said that the British government still followed EU rules, which had been applied before Brexit deal was inked.

He pointed out that the airline was holding regular meetings with UK authorities to review the suspension of flights to the European nation.

PIA has secured safety certification from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which is valid till 2023, however, the restrictions are based on the audit of airline’s regulator – the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan – and not PIA, he said.

PIA was undergoing human resource restructuring and rationalisation due to which promotions in all departments were being done purely on merit now, he said.

“There will be no new recruitments in PIA as per Supreme Court’s orders,” he said. “The Voluntary Separation Scheme was announced with complete package and understanding of the beneficiary, who submitted affidavits to forego retirement benefits in lieu of the package.”

Malik highlighted that the management of the air carrier was focusing on enhancing training standards and facilities at the PIA Training Centre.

At present, the flying academy remains closed because PIA lacks funds to support the academy.

PIA was the only Pakistani airline which operated on socio-economic routes that were not covered by other domestic airlines, he said.

“PIA is still operating flights to domestic destinations for the national cause despite the fact that they are commercially unviable,” he said. “The airline is working to provide easy access and connections from such cities to the rest of Pakistan and the world.”

Have they decided to replace old planes with new ones, 30 years too late - and yet the tax payer + IMF loan takes the full bill not like they pay for it

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">PIA refutes a web news item intended to damage our repute that we will not provide water onboard. It is a misinterpretation by some prominent media outlets and is both irresponsible & unprofessional.<br><br>PIA unequivocally denies such baseless reports intended to mislead our guests <a href="https://t.co/YLd97uPfN5">pic.twitter.com/YLd97uPfN5</a></p>— PIA (@Official_PIA) <a href="https://twitter.com/Official_PIA/status/1423501229414572033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 6, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[MenInG]

KARACHI: The UK Supreme Court dismisses an appeal on Wednesday filed by a local travel agent against the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIAC) over a new contract for sales of tickets to Pakistan in 2012.

A five-judge bench, headed by Lord Reed and comprising Lord Hodge (Deputy President), Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lord Kitchin, Lord Burrows, handed down the judgment, saying that PIAC cutting Times Travel (UK) Ltd’s (TT) ticket allocation was not a reprehensible conduct.

According to the information available on the UK Supreme Court website, Lord Hodge gave the lead judgment with which Lord Reed, Lord Lloyd-Jones and Lord Kitchin agree, while Lord Burrows gave a concurring judgment.

The dispute arose in 2011 and 2012 when certain travel agents, including the TT, alleged that the PIAC had not been paying them certain commission payments. In September 2012, the PIAC gave notice of the termination of the agency contracts and offered Times Travel a new contract.

The new contract contained a waiver by the TT of its claims for unpaid commission under the prior arrangements. Though the TT accepted and signed the new contract, it brought proceedings in 2014 to recover unpaid commission and other payments under the previous contractual arrangements.

At first instance, the High Court held that the TT was entitled to avoid the contract with the PIAC on the grounds of economic duress. But later a court of appeal allowed the PIAC’s appeal. The TT then lodges appeal in the Supreme Court.

While dismissing the appeal, the Supreme Court ruled that the TT could not rescind the new agreement for lawful act economic duress. Lord Burrows agreed with Lord Hodge that the appeal should be dismissed but disagreed on what was meant by illegitimate threats in relation to economic duress.

Lord Hodge held that the PIAC giving notice that the previous contract would be terminated and cutting TT’s ticket allocation was not reprehensible conduct in the sense used in the case law. PIAC’s genuine belief that it was not liable to pay the disputed commission further supports the view that its behaviour was not reprehensible.

Lord Burrows’ view was that a demand was unjustified, so that the accompanying threat was illegitimate… “On the facts of this case, TT’s claim for lawful act economic duress fails because PIAC genuinely believed it was not liable for the unpaid commission.”

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2316221/uk-top-court-dismisses-plea-against-pia-over-unpaid-commission

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This A320 becomes part of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PIA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PIA</a> fleet. Vintage 2017, the plane arrived at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NIIA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NIIA</a> early morning today. It's part of PIA's fleet replacement program that would provide better & much more comfortable travel experience to our valued customers. <a href="https://t.co/Pgz8bgoskE">pic.twitter.com/Pgz8bgoskE</a></p>— PIA (@Official_PIA) <a href="https://twitter.com/Official_PIA/status/1437629627732725761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 14, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[MenInG]

Pakistan International Airlines’ (PIA) property in New York has been neither taken over nor attached by anyone as the case is still under trial and no final decision has been announced as yet.

This was stated by PIA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Air Marshal Arshad Malik while briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Aviation on Wednesday.

The committee meeting, chaired by Senator Hidayat Ullah, was apprised in a comprehensive briefing that in the year-2020 PIA faced a total loss of Rs35.354 billion including the burden of ‘legacy debt.’

When questioned about the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, the PIA officials requested an in-camera meeting, saying the issue has already been misinterpreted and misconceived through the media.

However, the PIA authorities put it on record that the property had not been taken over nor attached by anyone.

They said the property was initially taken over by the bankers temporarily due to some financial liabilities of Roosevelt Hotel Corporation including payment of local taxes and utilities. “Now all dues are paid and the case is under trial,” informed the PIA officials.

In their briefing to the committee members on the profits, the officials said the national flag-carrier had generated Rs94.989 billion revenue and suffered a loss of Rs680 million during the year 2020.

The PIA officials told the lawmakers that a 10-year performance audit and statistical analysis was conducted with a comprehensive business plan 2019-2023 aimed at operational turnover towards profitability and balance-sheet restructuring for addressing the legacy debt.

They said coronavirus had badly hit the aviation sector that halted its operation by around 60 per cent.

The officials further told the panel that PIA had recovered $412.0 million from the Airbus which was not pursued by previous regimes and also resolved a claim of $4 million from Air Asia.

The officials said the PIA had terminated 814 employees on fake credentials and tracked 700 bogus daily-wage employees and removed them from service.

They said the national flag-carrier was also in the process of enhancing tourism-related flights by 300 per cent in line with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan to promote tourism activities in the country.

The PIA has introduced new routes to Gilgit from Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad, Sialkot and Multan besides Launching Air Safari Flight in partnership with Shangri-La Hotels for diplomats.

The body was informed that the PIA was inducting a simulator to reduce training cost as an initiative for 2022 and 2023, and also implementing Engineering MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Operations) project mostly for commercial activities.

The matter of the ban imposed by the European Union on flight operations of PIA was also discussed by lawmakers. The PIA officials said the delay in ban-lifting was due to a delay in the audit.

“The ICAA kept pursuing the ICAO to conduct Audit at an early time frame; the ICAO announced the audit in July 2021 which was postponed due to Covid-19. The ICAO has announced the new schedule for the audit from 29 November 2021 till December 10, 2021. The resumption of flights to the European Union will take place, after the Validation Audit.”

Among others, the meeting was attended by Senators Faisal Saleem Rahman, Raza Rabbani, Sherry Rehman, Aon Abbas, Mohsin Aziz, Saleem Mandviwala and Afnan Ullah Khan, besides Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan, senior officials from Aviation Division and PIA.

 

[MenInG]

The controversy over the grounding of a Boeing aircraft by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) after it was damaged during an anti-hijacking drill by the law enforcement agencies is likely to face a parliamentary scrutiny, as an opposition senator belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Sunday declared he would raise the matter before the parliamentary committee concerned.

Talking to Dawn, PML-N Senator Afnanullah Khan said he had already asked Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Aviation Hidayatullah to take up the matter for investigation and he would formally write a letter to him in this regard.

Senator Khan said he would explain through the letter the issue to the committee chairman, requesting him to summon the high-ups of PIA and the Airport Security Force (ASF). He said the opposition members in the committee would also request for a subcommittee to hold a thorough investigation.

The PML-N senator said PIA’s Boeing 777-200 LR with registration number AP-BGL had been parked at a storage facility in Karachi for almost two years. The aircraft that cost over $300 million to the national exchequer had not been able to fly due to the damage caused during the drill by the law enforcement agencies when an ASF truck had hit it with full force, he added.


Mr Khan said the PIA management had initially denied any “wrongdoing” but later confirmed the drill and that the plane had been damaged.

Last month, a recently retired PIA pilot, Mumtaz Hussain, had filed a petition in the Lahore High Court on the matter. On October 25, Justice Tariq Nadeem directed the deputy attorney general “to procure a reply and para-wise comments from the PIA chief executive officer”.

The next date of case hearing is November 30 (tomorrow).

In his petition filed under Article 199 of the Constitution, the pilot urged the court to pass an “appropriate direction” for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to allow inspection of the aircraft and provide information about its airworthiness.

The petitioner also sought “to initiate criminal proceedings against those who are responsible for the damage of the PIA aircraft Boeing 777-200 registration number AP-BGL”.

He claimed that the CAA had grounded the aircraft due to lack of airworthiness and the aircraft was parked at Jinnah Terminal, thus causing “millions of rupees loss to the airline and national treasure”.

Mr Hussain also attached a complete list of technical defects in the aircraft as “reflected by the engineering department”. According to the petition, the aircraft had not flown since March 2020 “whereas in February, it took 69 flights”.

The 329-seater plane had made the first flight in March 2004.

Talking to Dawn, counsel for the petitioner Nabeel Javed Kahloon said they would submit another application to the court on Monday (today) requesting it to constitute a high-level commission of technical experts, well experienced and trained on Boeing 777 aircraft, to inspect the aircraft and submit a complete investigation report on the “structural damages” along with facts of the incident before the court.

Through the supplementary application, Mr Kahloon said, they would also urge the court to direct the CAA to take the aircraft’s custody from PIA under Section 272 of the Civil Aviation Rules 1994 so that no one could tamper with the evidence.

PIA spokesman

A PIA spokesman, however, declared that there was no truth in the reports that the aircraft had been rendered useless.

In a statement, he admitted that the aircraft was “partially damaged” during an anti-hijacking drill, but claimed that the damage had been repaired.

“The plane is parked at the long storage,” he said.

“The aircraft is parked at the long storage as the use of Boeing 777 had been decreased due to travelling curbs in the wake of Covid-19,” the spokesman added.

He said the plane would be made operational when travel restrictions would be lifted. He said the use of Boeing aircraft would increase after the decision of Saudi Arabia to allow direct flights from Pakistan. He added that the aircraft would be made operational as soon as the flights on long routes resumed.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2021

 

[finalfantasy7]

Found a review on PIA from Youtuber Sam Chui - he interviews PIA CEO Air Marshal Arshad Malik & PIA spokesperson Abdullah Khan. In the video they discuss issues about the EU blacklist, the credibility of the pilots and return PIA to profitability, PIA operated many rescue flights out of Kabul, Afghanistan, and flew about 5000-7000 people out

Below is the link to the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlaW6MQIbpY

 

[MenInG]

A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) pilot on Sunday refused to fly a plane from Riyadh to Islamabad saying his duty had ended, igniting a protest by the passenger who refused to get off the plane.

As per the PIA administration, PK-9754 took off from Riyadh but landed in Dammam due to bad weather. The captain of the flight then refused to fly the plane to Islamabad saying his duty timings had ended.

The passengers, getting irritated by the unexpected turn of events, refused to get off the plane in protest. However, the airport security was called in to bring the situation under control.

The PIA spokesperson said that it is necessary for the pilots to take proper rest prior to flying for flight safety so arrangements were made in this regard. He said that the passengers will land in Islamabad at 11pm tonight.

In November, the national flag carrier had announced that it was expanding its flight operations for Saudi Arabia.

According to spokesperson, the PIA flights will depart from different cities of the country, including Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Multan and Peshawar.

 

[MenInG]

A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) pilot refused to fly any further after making an emergency landing on Sunday, saying that his shift had ended. According to The Express Tribune, flight PK-9754 took off from Riyadh and was supposed to fly till Islamabad. However, bad weather forced the pilot to land in Dammam in Saudi Arabia.
Problems arose when the pilot refused to fly any further after making the emergency landing.

Local media reported that the pilot - who has not been named - refused to continue the flight, claiming that his hours of duty had ended. Meanwhile, passengers inside the aircraft refused to deboard and began protesting against the delay in their journey. As the situation became more and more tense, Dammam airport security was called to bring it under control.

Finally, stranded passengers were provided accommodation in a hotel until they could continue on their journey to Islamabad in Pakistan.

"A pilot should rest because it is necessary for flight safety. All passengers will reach 11pm at Islamabad Airport until then all arrangements have been made in hotels," a Pakistan International Airlines spokesperson was quoted as saying by The Gulf News.

Pakistan International Airlines is the national carrier of Pakistan. It expanded its flight operations to Saudi Arabia in November last year.

This is not the first time that passengers have been stranded after an emergency landing. In November last year, dozens of people were stranded in Europe after their US-bound flight made an emergency landing in Dublin, Ireland, because of an engine failure.

NDTV

 

[MenInG]

A foreign consultant on Tuesday presented a fiveyear business plan to the government for the revival of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and recommended the addition of 20 aircraft to the fleet and administrative and financial overhaul to turn around the airline by 2026.

IATA Consulting gave a synopsis of the business plan to Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin. It revealed that PIA would remain in loss even at the end of the tenure of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in spite of injecting hundreds of billions of rupees. The consultant suggested that the fleet of PIA – the loss-making national flag carrier that is eating billions of rupees of taxpayers every year without showing any improvement – should go up from 29 to 49 aircraft.

The consultant has proposed the addition of four wide-body aircraft and 16 narrow-body planes. The government was told that by introducing all restructuring measures, it was expected that breakeven could be achieved in the fourth year, indicating that the airline would remain in loss. However, sources said that the PIA management, while agreeing to many proposals, said that the plan was “aggressive and difficult to accept”.

At the time of appointment of Arshad Malik as the chief executive officer of PIA three years ago, Prime Minister Imran Khan had said that Malik would turn around the loss-making entity. But the consultant’s plan showed that PIA was expected to suffer a loss of $120 million in 2022 solely on account of operating cost, which would increase to $156 million in 2023. In 2023 – the last year of PTI’s five-year rule – total revenues are projected at $934 million against operating cost of $1.1 billion.

The plan envisages 23% growth in operating revenue in 2023 against 11% increase in operating cost. Similarly, in 2024, the operational loss is estimated at $62 million, which will convert into an operational profit of $42 million before turning into a marginal operational loss of $5 million in 2026 – the last year of the business plan.

After taking into account the improvement measures under the five-year plan, the consultant said that operating margins would increase by 0.4% in 2025 and 3.4% in the last year of the five-year plan. “Achievement of the projected results and overall success of this business plan is highly dependent on introduction and implementation of the proposed improvement measures,” IATA Consulting informed the finance minister.

Sources said that Tarin remarked that it may require around Rs500 billion to implement the overall plan, including the financial restructuring. The consultant did not give any figure. The consultant recommended that PIA should be allowed to follow private management rules like other airlines and the requirements of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) should be done away with.

It recommended government’s support for the organisational restructuring process and execution of financial restructuring. It also sought exemptions from investigations and multiple audits The consultant shared PIA’s network plan strategy, which included increasing frequencies on the domestic network, focus on international flights on profitable routes, resumption of services to Europe and New York, and addition of new international routes in Asia.

It recommended maintaining point-to-point strategy on routes to North America, the UK, Gulf and Saudi Arabia and introducing a partial hub operation in Islamabad and maintaining extra sections for Hajj and Umrah. The projected aircraft utilisation is to improve up to 15% over PIA’s 2019 values of 10 hours per day. The consultant expected that the domestic market would recover to 2019 levels in 2022, whereas the international traffic levels of 2019 were expected to be regained by 2024. PIA’s repositioning as per the proposed plan takes into account the internal company and external market situation.

The plan’s focus is on regaining the domestic market share, consolidating and realigning the international network, preparing Islamabad for hub operations by 2025, diversifying revenue sources and reducing operating cost. The consultant said that having a two-hub operation was a very expensive proposition and with secondary flights to international destinations, “it becomes even more complex”. Sources said that PIA’s management had certain differences of opinion due to the reasons that the plan was dependent on extraneous factors like financial restructuring, national aviation policy and PPRA exemption.

The management was of the view that some of the structural changes that it had proposed were very aggressive and difficult to accept. The Ministry of Finance, in a press release, said that a five-year recovery roadmap with network strategy was highlighted to make PIA a viable and profitable organisation focusing on increasing efficiency and profitability by considering the domestic market and Pakistani community abroad keeping in view the internal and external challenges facing the entity.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2341509/pia-to-achieve-break-even-in-2025

 

[MenInG]

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has decided to start direct flights to Sydney, Australia, from April 22.

The flights would operate from the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore on Sundays.

Economy class passengers would be allowed to carry luggage up to 45kg while executive economy class passengers would be allowed 55kg of luggage.

The direct flights between the two metropolitan cities would not only cut down on travel time but would also facilitate passengers in terms of luggage capacity.

The national flag-carrier has directed its marketing and frontline teams to provide the best facilities to the passengers.

Read Passengers protest as PIA pilot refuses to fly plane after duty hours

The state airline is planning on expanding its network following the lifting of coronavirus-induced restrictions on the aviation industry.

It is worth mentioning here that PIA recently started direct flights from Lahore and Karachi to Baku, Azerbaijan, and plans to add more destinations in the near future.

Pakistan’s government has been trying to revive the national flag-carrier towards its former glory. While the state airline has long been a loss-making entity, the government is trying to help it increase its revenue.

Last month, IATA Consulting, which was tasked by Pakistan’s government to come up with a business strategy for the airline, presented a plan, whereby PIA would start making profit in 2026, conditional to the addition of 20 more aircraft to its fleet and a complete financial overhaul.

 

[MenInG]

Pakistan International Airline's (PIA) maiden flight from Lahore to Sydney has been deferred for a few days on the advice of the Australian Homeland Affairs Department, a statement from the flag carrier said Thursday.

Citing the reason for the deferment, the flag carrier, in a statement, said the Homeland Affairs Department wants to reassess the prevailing security situation of the country and review the security apparatus and procedures adopted at Pakistani airports.

PIA was set to operate its first-ever direct flight between Pakistan and Australia on April 22, initially planning to operate one weekly flight on this route.

PIA said the flight was initiated after a "strong demand" from the Pakistani diaspora residing in Australia, who wanted direct flights as they were forced to take a 35-hour long journey via transiting at Middle Eastern points.

But with the direct flight, the duration would be cut down from 35 hours to just 12.5 hours, the flag carrier's statement said.

However, despite obtaining necessary permissions from the Australian Civil Aviation Authority at the last moment, the move was hit with delays.

The Department of Homeland Affairs of Australia, consequent to the detailed assessment of the security protocols adopted at Karachi and Lahore Airports, sought more time and has advised PIA to cancel its first two flights, till the time their review is complete.

The PIA spokesperson termed the event "unfortunate" but noted that given the carrier's desires for long-term sustainable operations in Australia, the airline would comply with all the regulations and security reviews.

Pakistani High Commission in Australia is in constant contact with the authorities concerned for an amicable and expeditious resolution of the matter and has made themselves available for any assistance in this regard, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said that the first two flights have been deferred to a later date and all the passengers will be re-accommodated on those flights.

"PIA Call Centre has already started informing the passengers about the change [...] all those customers who intend to travel before that can get their tickets refunded without any charge," the spokesperson added.

https://www.geo.tv/latest/412801-pi...stralia-reassess-pakistans-security-apparatus

 

[MenInG]

A domestic flight of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) from Gwadar to Karachi on Tuesday avoided a mishap after it landed at Jinnah International Airport with at least one damaged tyre.

According to airport authorities in Gwadar, the tyre of PK504 suffered damage during take off, with sources claiming that tyre fragments were found on the runway.

However, with around 60 passengers on board, the pilot managed to land the aircraft at Karachi airport safely. The Franco-Italian manufactured ATR aircraft bore the registration number AP-BKK.

A follow-on flight by the aircraft from Karachi to Sukkur was cancelled by the national carrier due to the plane having damaged tyres.

According to a PIA spokesperson, there had been no problem with the tyre during the check prior to the flight and the pilot had a normal landing at Karachi airport.

He maintained that an investigation has been launched into the matter.

Two years pass since PIA crash

Two years have passed since PIA had its worst plane crash in history in which 97 people including eight crew members lost their lives while two passengers were lucky to survive.

The PIA flight had left on Jumatul Wida, the last Friday of Ramazan, from Lahore for Karachi and crashed in Model Colony close to the landing near Karachi Airport Quaid-e-Azam International Terminal.

Express Tribune

 

[MenInG]

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has suspended its operations to and from Damascus following Israel's attack on the Syrian capital’s airport, said a spokesperson of the national flag carrier on Saturday.

According to Syria's transport ministry, repairs have begun at the airport closed for a second day after the air strikes.

“Both runways are inactive due to bombing at the Damascus airport that led to complete suspension of (flight) operations there,” PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khand said in a statement.

Following this, he added, the airline had to cancel flight PK-135 from Karachi to Damascus that was scheduled to take off on Friday morning carrying 170 passengers.

Also read: Syria says repairing airport damaged in Israeli strikes

Khand maintained that another flight, PK-136 was due to bring 169 passengers from Damascus, however, it had too been canceled due to the runways being completely inactive.

The spokesperson regretted the inconvenience faced by the passengers, explaining that the flight’s cancellation was unavoidable due to the confronted operational issues.

He informed that the flights would be rescheduled as soon as the runways were restored, otherwise, stranded passengers would be transported through alternative means.

Accordingly, Khand said, all passengers were being informed about the development through the PIA call centre.

Since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes against its neighbours, targeting government troops as well as allied Iran-backed forces and fighters from Lebanon's group Hezbollah.

(With additional input from AFP)

 

[MenInG]

On the special directives of Aviation Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight will depart for Syria today (Monday) to bring back Pakistanis stranded in the war-torn country due to the Israeli bombing of the Damascus airport.

The PIA finalised plans to send a flight to Syria after a request was made via a letter by the Pakistani envoy in Damascus. The letter was addressed to the PIA CEO and the Government of Pakitan.

In the letter, the envoy asked the national carrier to send its plane to the Syrian city of Aleppo as the airport in Damascus was unusable.

A statement issued by PIA said that the flights to bring back the stranded Pakistanis will leave on June 13.

As per the plan, in the first phase, the Pakistanis in Damascus will be transported to Aleppo via a bus from where the PIA flight will bring them back.

GEO

 

[MenInG]

Islamabad: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has increased the tax amount on business class passengers from Rs10,000 to Rs50,000, Geo News reported Friday.

The tax will be applicable for travel from today (July 1, 2022) regardless of the issuance of tickets.

“All business class passengers whose tickets are already issued for travel on July 1 or later are hereby informed that this difference may be collected at the airport by airline staff,” the notification said.

Confirming the development, the Pakistan International Airline (PIA) spokesperson said that the tax hike will not affect the price of the national carrier’s tickets because its planes do not have business class facilities.

He clarified that on PIA’s economy plus class, similar taxes which are applicable to the economy class are applied.

https://gnnhd.tv/news/14403/fbr-enhances-taxes-on-business-class-airline-tickets

 

[MenInG]

Federal Minister for Aviation Saad Rafique has issued special orders to slash PIA flight fares during the three days of Eid-ul-Azha, ARY News reported.

According to details, the fares have been slashed by 20% on all PIA flights amid the three days of Eid-ul-Azha. The prices have been reduced on special orders by Aviation Minister Saad Rafique.

On July 6, the Pakistan Railways also announced a 30 per cent discount on tickets in train fares to facilitate the passengers on the occasion of Eidul Azha.

 

[MenInG]

Federal Minister for Railways and Aviation Khawaja Saad Rafique on Saturday observed that the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) were only making demands against their performance that was nowhere close.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the newly repaired runway at the Lahore airport, the minister said those who worked hard would reap its benefits. However, he warned that underachievers had no place in the departments under his ministry.

The minister added that the previous governments had benefitted its people to a great extent.

Rafique claimed that he had no role in the PIA “illegal” appointments. “We will appoint people based on merit and then it will be their responsibility to perform well,” he added.

The minister said the PIA would have to work really hard for the next four to five years to be on its feet. He stressed the importance of departments supporting each other for the sake of coordination. The minister said efforts were under way to have the international routes opened for the PIA.

The national carrier landed in hot water in the wake of its flight PK8303 crashing in Karachi on May 22, 2020, and the subsequent announcement by then aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan of the grounding of 262 airline pilots suspected of dodging their exams.

Rafique vowed that flights to the UK and US would be resumed soon. He said an investment to the tune of Rs5 billion would be made in the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore in the next five years. The minister maintained that counters of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Customs at the country’s airports were short on staff.

He added that he would speak with the FIA director general so that this problem could be sorted out to facilitate passengers. He further said he was aware of the problems faced by the Airports Security Force (ASF). Rafique said Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore was one of the most significant and busiest ones in the country.

He added that the government, the PIA and CAA in particular, were reviewing the Lahore airport's infrastructure to improve it. The minister said the PIA had been provided with funds to replace the seats of five Airbus planes.

He further said a Boeing-777 plane, which was grounded for almost a year, would become operational from Saturday. Rafique said the upgrading work of the runway at the Karachi airport would be started this year. “Gilgit, Chitral and Skardu airports would further be modernised. Work is under way on the Sukkur and Dera Ismail Khan airports so that they could be given international status,” he added.

The minister said he had been told that the alternative of Walton airport, which was being constructed in Muridke, would become operational by January next year. He added that Gwadar’s new airport would become fully operational by September 2023. “Work on Quetta and Faisalabad airports is under way and their runways will be completed this year,” the minister elaborated.

Rafique further said two Boeing-777 aircraft would also be refurbished. “This will take six to eight months and require a lot of money,” he claimed. The minister added that four more new planes were being added to the existing fleet and old aircraft were being refurbished so that they could be used.

The CAA has opened the newly repaired runway at the Lahore airport. The runway, 36R, was closed for repairs for over two years. The old runway, 36L, was opened for flights during this time. All domestic and foreign airlines have been informed about the opening of the runway.

The CAA has issued a notification about it. The secondary runway will also continue to function.

As per the CAA, jumbo planes will be able to land on the newly renovated runway.

(With input from APP)

 

[MenInG]

The Pakistan International Airlines has made it mandatory for its air crew to wear undergarments while wearing plain clothes.

The national carrier’s flight services general manager has raised objections over the dressing of the airline's air hostesses and issued guidelines in this connection.

The official, Aamir Bashir, observed that there had been complaints about the attire of the air hostesses when they reach their offices, stay at hotels and travel to other cities.

He added that the lack of better attire by the air attendants was ruining the PIA’s image.

It has been made mandatory for grooming instructors and senior shift in-charges to monitor the dressing of flight attendants.

The flight services general manager warned that strict action would be taken against those flight attendants who did not follow the guidelines.

Separately, the International Transport Workers Federation has expressed concern over the extra duty timings of the PIA pilots and flight attendants.

The federation has written a letter to PIA CEO Aamir Hayat over the matter.

It read that the national carrier had unilaterally changed the working hours of the cabin crew in recent times.

It added that unilateral changes in working hours were affecting the productivity and performance of the cabin crew. Besides, the move was in violation of the rules.

The letter stated that the matter should be resolved urgently for the protection of human lives as unnecessarily lengthy working hours for pilots and air hostesses might cause accidents.

It added that the federation had sent a similar letter to the Civil Aviation Authority director general two years ago.

In another development, Aviation and Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique held a meeting at the PIA office to discuss steps to improve the services of the national carrier.

The minister issued instructions to make the in-flight entertainment system functional for the passengers as soon as possible.

The participants of the meeting were also briefed on the plan to replace the old seats with better and comfortable ones.

The minister observed that an in-flight entertainment system and better seats were a long-standing demand of PIA passengers.

He added that Pakistan was one of the biggest countries in the world and there was a need for taking many steps for the development of the aviation industry.

Rafique further pointed out that airport facilities were available in many important or medium-sized cities, but they did not have air connectivity.

The minister issued instructions to plan multi-purpose initiatives to connect these cities with the air network.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2379102/flight-attendants-must-be-properly-dressed-pia

 

[MenInG]

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) warned Pakistan on Wednesday that foreign airlines could stop operations in the economically struggling country because of the sustained blockage of cash payments.

The trade association of global airlines said in a statement that Pakistan owed foreign airlines some $290 million in "repatriable funds" as of January, the second-highest total after Nigeria.

"If conditions persist that make the economics of operation to a country unsustainable, one would expect airlines to put their valued aircraft assets to better use elsewhere," said Philip Goh, IATA's Asia-Pacific regional vice president. He was quoted as saying that Virgin Atlantic Airways recently suspended flights to Pakistan.

Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves have lately sunk to around $4.6 billion, barely enough to cover four weeks of imports, prompting the central bank to make it difficult to send dollars out of the country.

IATA said that Pakistan's foreign exchange controls are affecting the ability of foreign companies to retrieve their money and meet payment obligations. It noted that some airlines still have funds stuck in Pakistan from sales in 2022.

"Trying to get that money is a difficult and long-winded process. Essentially, airlines must undergo a costly monthly audit to produce an auditor's certificate with each remittance showing the amount to be remitted," the statement said.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's government has been in talks with the International Monetary Fund to persuade the lender to resume disbursements from a $6.5 billion bailout program agreed to in 2019. The IMF was due to release another $1.1 billion in November but has not done so, citing a lack of progress on fiscal reforms Pakistan agreed to implement.

The IMF fund is vital to unlocking other external financing avenues to help Islamabad avert a default on its foreign debt obligations.

China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are among several countries that pledged to help Pakistan fund its balance of payments.

Goh described Pakistan, a country of about 220 million, as a "very challenging environment" for airlines. Currently, about 28 foreign airlines fly into Pakistan.

"The government already has a federal excise duty (FED) on air tickets for premium travelers and wants to increase it further. This will just make it more expensive to travel and dampen demand for air travel," he cautioned.

An IATA study five years ago concluded that Pakistan could increase air travelers to 35 million a year by 2038, up from the current 11 million, contributing $9.3 billion to the country's GDP and supporting almost 800,000 jobs.

But critics say successive governments have long neglected the country's aviation industry.

Pakistan's foreign currency shortage and declining local currency value are also hurting other vital sectors. Several car manufacturers have paused production due to the economic conditions.

The impoverished country relies heavily on imports, such as raw materials needed to manufacture medicine and complex surgical equipment, but the medical supply chain is under growing pressure.

https://www.voanews.com/a/airlines-...er-290-million-in-blocked-funds-/7027067.html

 

[MenInG]

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Wednesday refuted reports that its flight operations would be affected due to non-payment of salaries to its staff.

In a statement, the national flag carrier spokesman said though the institution faced financial constraints due to the economic situation in the country, it had paid salaries to staff in Groups I to IV on time.

However, he said, salaries of certain officials were delayed, adding that the payment would be made within the next few days.

The spokesman clarified that PIA officers, including pilots, were discharging their responsibilities and duties with persistence and that the airline was fully functional and operational.

Earlier, some media outlets had reported that the national flag carrier’s operations would be affected as its pilots were considering boycotting flights “in protest” against the non-payment of their pending salaries.

According to details, the officers of PIA from pay scale 5 to 10 including pilots had, reportedly, not received their salaries yet because of funds shortage.

The reports claimed that the pilots were disappointed due to the “prolonged delay” in payment of their pending salaries even during the month of Ramazan.

In midst of financial crisis, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had deducted Rs1.4 billion from the national flag carrier’s accounts.

Furthermore, the FBR was demanding Rs1.7 billion more tax money till next week.

The PIA employees asked the government not to stop their salaries especially during Ramazan with Eidul Fitr approaching near.

Regarding flight operations, the PIA spokesman urged the people not to believe baseless and misleading reports, which he said were spread by elements with ill motives to disrupt PIA's operations.

He said the airline operations would continue unhindered despite the challenges faced by the PIA.

 

[MenInG]

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has re-implemented the Pakistan Essential Services (Maintenance) Act, 1952 which will enable the national flag carrier to take punitive actions against employees who disobey lawful orders.

According to a notification issued by the PIA chief executive officer (CEO) on April 27, the PIA is passing through unprecedented times due to the prevalent economic condition of the country, a situation that has resulted in severe cash flow constraints.

It said lately “few” employees had shown mala fide intention of influencing the operation of the airlines over delayed payment of salaries.

It said the federal government in exercise of the power conferred by sub-section 3 the Pakistan Essential Services (Maintenance) Act, 195 has declared all classes of the PIA employees under the act.

“Having been enforced, a number of obligations are imposed on the employees of the PIA with regard to performance of their duties, breach of which is not only to be treated as a misconduct under the company’s rules but also to be taken as an offence under the act,” it said.

The act applies to all employees who disobey any lawful order given in the course of employment, or attempt to persuade any person to disobey any such order.

It also applies to employees who without reasonable excuse abandon their job or absent themselves from work or refuse to work or depart from any area specified in an order under sub-section (1) of section 4 without the consent of the authority.

“Any person found guilty of an offence under this act shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year and shall also be liable to a fine,” it says.

Express Tribune

 

[MenInG]

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has formed a high-level committee that will work out a plan to restructure and revive Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), which has continued to be in bad shape over the years.

The reputation of the national flag carrier, facing cumulative losses of Rs635 billion by the end of September, has further suffered in recent weeks because of five particular incidents in different continents.

And this happened when the company’s standing had already been at the lowest ebb following question marks raised by a former aviation minister on the qualifications of pilots operating its aircraft globally.

 

[WicketLord]

Air Vice Marshal (retired) Muhammad Amir Hayat has been appointed Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), ARY News reported on Thursday.

Accordting to PIA spokesperson, the appointment of Muhammad Amir Hayat has been made for a year. Earlier, the retired Air Vice Marshal was working as acting CEO of PIA.

 

[WicketLord]

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has resorted to ground several aircraft as it struggles to secure funds to maintain its operations for the next few months, during which time its core functions and non-core assets are expected to be put up for sale.

The Ministry of Aviation issued a stern warning last week, telling the federal government that PIA currently grapples with a severe cash flow crisis, leading to arrears with creditors, aircraft lessors, fuel suppliers, insurers, international and domestic airport operators, and even the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Consequently, the national flag carrier has been compelled to ground five of its 13 leased aircraft, with the possibility of four more facing a similar fate, the ministry said.

Adding to the mounting concerns, the Ministry of Aviation disclosed that Boeing and Airbus are on the verge of discontinuing the supply of spare parts by mid-September. Considering these challenges, the ministry has requested an immediate cash injection of Rs23 billion, and the suspension of duties, taxes and service charges to domestic agencies. However, this request comes without the presentation of a concrete and viable business plan.

The ministry cautioned that the PIA’s restructuring is a complex process that is expected to span around eight months. It also emphasised that for the divestment of PIA’s shares to yield a fair value, the airline must remain operational throughout all stages of restructuring.

“If the situation continues as such, PIA’s debt and liabilities will rise to Rs1,977bn and its annual losses will rise to Rs259bn per annum by 2030,” it put on record, warning that Rs383bn of the current debt liability of PIA stood underwritten by the government of Pakistan and being 92pc owner, the responsibility for the remaining payables also ultimately rested with it.

The restructuring plan is yet to be approved by the government. The Aviation Division last week asked the government to inject Rs23bn funds to cover the markup payment, suspend Rs1.3bn and Rs700m to the FBR and the Civil Aviation Authority, respectively, and defer loans and markup till restructuring is complete in about eight months.

This did not impress Caretaker Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar at the back-to-back meetings of the ECC and the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation.

The two committees then decided to form a separate panel to assess PIA’s restructuring plan and directed the finance ministry and the State Bank of Pakistan to support the airline to tackle its financial challenges after a concrete plan of restructuring had been finalised.

DAWN

 

[Bhaijaan]

The national carriers of both Bharat and Pakistan are a disgrace.

I saw AirIndia and PIA at Dubai airport and it was a disgrace to see such awful looking aircrafts right next to Emirates, Singapore airlines etc.

 

[Mockingbird]

The national carriers of both Bharat and Pakistan are a disgrace.

I saw AirIndia and PIA at Dubai airport and it was a disgrace to see such awful looking aircrafts right next to Emirates, Singapore airlines etc.

Post privatization, Air India is already looking forward. They have placed huge orders for Airbus and Boeing planes to replace the fleet, so in coming years the service will be much better.

No hopes for PIA, though. I guess some gulf company might take it over at throwaway prices in the near future.

 

[WicketLord]

Political parties have destroyed PIA. They have recruited countless people from their party, even if they were not qualified for it. So PIA now in this situation.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

This current situation of PIA is just because a result of overemployment. In the department where 200 employees needed, PIA hired 3000.

 

[WicketLord]

The interim federal government is putting the process of selling the Roosevelt Hotel in the United States on a fast track.

To facilitate the auction of the hotel, the government has invited proposals for the appointment of a financial advisor.

Interested firms are required to submit their applications for financial advisors by October 9, along with a fee of $1000.

Technical documents for submitting the applications can be accessed on the Privatization Commission's website.

PIA's Roosevelt Hotel in United States for sale

The interim federal government is putting the process of selling the Roosevelt Hotel in the United States on a fast track. To facilitate the auction of the

www.nation.com.pk

 

[WicketLord]

PIA was once the best airline up to 90's, but now PIA's assets are also being sold.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

PIA reports recovery in flight operations after securing Rs17bn loan.

The cash-strapped Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) reported a recovery in its flight operations on Sunday after managing to secure a Rs17 billion bank loan.

The development comes after the national carrier reportedly grounded several aircraft as it struggles to secure funds to maintain its operations for the next few months. Some media reports had also claimed that the operations would be ceased by Sept 15, evoking a strong response from the airline’s management and lawmakers in the Senate.

The Ministry of Aviation, while seeking a cash injection of Rs23 billion, has also informed the government that Boeing and Airbus — two of the leading commercial jet manufacturers — were on the verge of discontinuing spare parts’ supply by mid-September, according to reports.

Earlier this week, PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan refuted reports of the flag carrier’s closure as baseless and said the flight operation was continuing. He added that the airline was also disbursing most urgent domestic and international payments.



Dawn

 

[Hassan A]

Bank loan rescues PIA: Employee salaries paid, flight operations on track

This timely influx of funds has not only enabled the prompt disbursement of employee salaries but has also rejuvenated the airline's operational capabilities, ensuring the continuation of its vital flight services.

A spokesperson for PIA expressed optimism about the recent development, stating, "We have managed to get a Rs. 17 billion loan, after which salaries of employees have been paid, and the flight operation is running smoothly."

This announcement comes as a relief to the airline's workforce and loyal customers alike, who have endured a turbulent period of uncertainty regarding PIA's future.

Just one day prior, Abdullah Hafeez Khan, another spokesperson for PIA, asserted that the airline was diligently addressing its financial commitments on both national and international fronts.

Reports also indicate that the infusion of funds will not be limited solely to employee salaries. PIA intends to allocate resources to fulfill its obligations to fuel companies and expedite the procurement of essential spare parts for aircraft repairs, thereby ensuring the safety and efficiency of its fleet.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

It's quite sad to see that the organization that once helped Emirates stand on its own feet is now facing its own challenges just because of bad management, ghost employment and Corruption.

 

[WicketLord]

ISLAMABAD: The timeline of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) privatization has been finalised, ARY News reported.

Caretaker Minister for Privatization Fawad Hasan Fawad chaired a meeting with different stakeholders regarding the restructuring of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) leading to a privatization process.

Advisor to PM on Aviation along with key members of his team, senior management and legal and financial consultants of PIA were also present, said a press release.

During the meeting headed by Minister for Privatization Fawad Hasan Fawad “clear timelines regarding the process were agreed with a view to meet the target set by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.”

Fawad Hassan Fawad discussed the details of restructuring of national flag-carrier with the PIA officials and aviation division. However, the press release issued by the privitization commission have no details of the proposed timeline.

A few days ago, Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar directed Minister for Privatization Fawad Hasan Fawad to oversee the process of privatization of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and complete it on a fast-track basis.

ARY NEWS

 

[gani999]

There was news about the Pakistan government wanting to sell PIA, and that talks were being held with Qatar Airways and Saudia. Any further developments there?

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has halted the fuel supply to Pakistan International Airline (PIA) over non-payment of dues, ARY News reported.

According to PIA spokesperson, the fuel supply was suspended by the PSO at Lahore airport.

The national flag carrier had to face the outburst of Lahore to Madina PK-747 and PK 305 from Lahore to Karachi’s passengers after the delay in flights due to the non-availability of fuel.

The spokesperson said that PIA is in talks with the PSO and the delayed flights will take off soon.

Earlier, it was reported that due to the lack of maintenance and repair work, several Boeing 777 aircraft of the national flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) developed technical faults during international flights.

The technical faults in PIA aircraft are continuously rising due to the lack of maintenance and repair work by the airline’s engineering department.

It is pertinent to mention here that the work on the restructuring plan of Pakistan International Airlines for privatization has been expedited.

As per details, the PIA administration sought applications from legal and corporate firms for the restructuring plan of the national flag carrier.

The Department of Contract Management has been directed to forward the applications by October 6.

The assets belonging to the national airline, including property, debts, aircraft, and employees, will be transferred to the new company and PIA will be presented to the investor as free from debt organization for privatization.


ARY News

 

[daytrader]

PIA LIKELY TO SUSPEND FLIGHT OPERATIONS AMID FINANCIAL CRISIS
KARACHI: The flight operations of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) are likely to be suspended amid a severe financial crisis, ARY News reported citing sources.

According to sources, the national airline is in need of Rs 7 billion to continue its flight operation as the banks have denied issuing funds despite guarantees from the Pakistan government.

Earlier, Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar directed authorities concerned to expedite the privatization process of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and other loss-making state-owned enterprises.

Sources told ARY News that the PIA’s financial affairs will be handed over to Privatisation Commission as the latter would take measures to reduce its losses.

Sources further claimed that the commission will link the national carrier’s financial affairs with latest system. By improving PIA’s financial affairs, the commission will improve its balance sheet – which will help in carrier’s privatisation.

Meanwhile, sources added that the administrative control of the institution will continue to be with the PIA’s management. Moreover, the administrative affairs will remain under the Ministry of Aviation.

Sources also claimed that that the matters of PIA’s regulation will remain with civil aviation. The Privatisation Commission wants to make institution’s accounts transparent by December 31.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

PIA seeks Rs7b loans to keep itself afloat

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has urgently requested an additional loan of over Rs7 billion from banks to sustain its ongoing operations. The national flag carrier is grappling with severe financial issues, leading to concerns about potential disruptions or even a complete suspension of flight operations.

Interestingly, no bank has shown any interest in providing a loan of Rs5 billion to the airline due to the severe financial problems faced by the PIA.

PIA seeks Rs7b loans to keep itself afloat | The Express Tribune

Concerns have arisen about partial or complete suspension of flight operations

tribune.com.pk

 

[Bewal Express]

PIA seeks Rs7b loans to keep itself afloat

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has urgently requested an additional loan of over Rs7 billion from banks to sustain its ongoing operations. The national flag carrier is grappling with severe financial issues, leading to concerns about potential disruptions or even a complete suspension of flight operations.

Interestingly, no bank has shown any interest in providing a loan of Rs5 billion to the airline due to the severe financial problems faced by the PIA.

PIA seeks Rs7b loans to keep itself afloat | The Express Tribune

Concerns have arisen about partial or complete suspension of flight operations

tribune.com.pk

A business that has been fleeced by crooks for 40 years is about to bankrupt. Good riddance

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Financial crisis takes a toll on PIA passengers

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is facing a significant disruption in its flight operations due to a constrained fuel supply, resulting in the cancellation and suspension of numerous flights. This has, in turn, placed substantial mental stress on thousands of passengers.

Over the course of several days, both domestic and international flights have encountered substantial delays, often lasting several hours. The underlying cause of this fuel shortage stems from the reluctance of the state-owned oil marketing company, Pakistan State Oil (PSO), to provide fuel to the national flag carrier. This reluctance is a result of PIA's outstanding dues, which remain unpaid.

On Tuesday, PSO provided fuel for only 13 flights, including 10 international and 3 domestic routes. PIA itself scheduled these thirteen flights. The national airline's administration on Tuesday purchased fuel from PSO worth Rs12.5 million, and the same amount of fuel will be provided today [Wednesday].

Financial crisis takes a toll on PIA passengers | The Express Tribune

Thousands of commuters suffer flight delays amid fuel shortage

tribune.com.pk

 

[Devadwal]

PIA cancels 48 flights amid fuel shortage

PIA cancels 48 flights amid fuel shortage

PIA spokesman says 13 domestic and 11 international flights were cancelled on Tuesday due to the non-availability of fuel.

www.dawn.com

 

[daytrader]

PSO suspends fuel supply to PIA

KARACHI: Pakistan State Oil (PSO) on Sunday suspended fuel supply to Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) amid non-transfer of daily payment to ensure fuel supply.

PIA agreed with PSO for a daily payment to continue fuel supply for essential routes earlier this month after the state-owned oil company suspended the supply over piling dues.

Pakistan State Oil excused PIA from supplying fuel amid the non-transfer of daily payment due on Sunday. On Saturday, PIA transferred Rs220 million to Pakistan State Oil to continue the daily fuel supply.

The civil aviation experts are showing resentment over the conduct of PSO which is not ready to give leniency to another state institution.

the national flag carrier spokesperson said that the national flag carrier’s flight schedule is returning to normal after restoration of fuel supply from Pakistan State Oil (PSO).

On Friday, the PIA spokesperson said in a statement that the airline operated 48 flights including 32 international and 16 domestic.

The PIA spokesperson said that the airline has paid Rs500 million so far to the PSO for the provision of fuel, adding that the national flag carrier is making payments to PSO daily.

PIA is currently acquiring fuel for profitable routes including Saudi Arabia, Canada, China, Kaula Lumpur and others.

ARY

 

[Cricket Warrior]

The national flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), remained grounded on Sunday after it cancelled 43 international and 29 domestic flights because of unavailability of fuel for the aircraft, PIA sources said.

The PIA takes fuel from the Pakistan State Oil (PSO). However, during the past few weeks both these public sector utilities remained at odds over the supplies. According to the sources, the situation become serious as the PIA’s air operations came to a standstill.

The flights cancellation had been a problem for the PIA for past few days, but the number rise abnormally high on Sunday. Also for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, it was witnessed that flight crew reported for duty but the planes remained grounded.

“A total of 72 domestic and foreign flights were affected. In just one day, the national airline sustained a loss of Rs700 million due to inoperability of its flights,” a source told The Express Tribune. He added that the lack of contacts between the top managements of the PIA and the PSO was also witnessed.

Shortage of fuel clips PIA wings | The Express Tribune

National flag carrier cancels a whopping 72 flights in single day

tribune.com.pk

 

[daytrader]

‘For-sale’ PIA hit by worst-ever fuel crisis

• Over 75 flights scheduled for Sunday cancelled as PSO cuts supply
• Spokesperson claims operation ‘partially restored’ as four international flights depart late at night
• Employees’ rep sees airline’s ‘destruction’ as part of ‘planned conspiracy’

‘For-sale’ PIA hit by worst-ever fuel crisis

Over 75 flights scheduled for Sunday cancelled as PSO cuts supply; spokesperson claims operation "partially restored".

www.dawn.com

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Pakistan International Airlines has cancelled 349 flights in the last two weeks due to a shortage of fuel, it said on Thursday, underscoring the difficulties faced by the cash-strapped national flag carrier.

The flight cancellations since October 14 have affected both domestic and international routes, a PIA spokesperson told Reuters.

The crisis comes after the caretaker government announced it would privatise the airline as part of a fiscal discipline plan agreed under an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout agreed in June.

PIA cancels 349 flights in two weeks over fuel row

Crisis comes after govt's decision to privatise national carrier; PIA says flights are being scheduled as per fuel availability.

www.dawn.com

 

[shortbread]

Why selling PIA isn't as simple as it sounds?!

The first and biggest problem is that PIA's debt far outweighs it's worth. It carries around USD 7 billion in debt and perhaps accumulating USD .75 billion in losses annually. Who would want to touch this until and unless the Government (which has guaranteed most of this debt) decides to take on all of the liabilities before handing a debt free PIA over to a buyer. Can the government afford to do this?

Second problem is the close to 11,000 employees of PIA. Salaries, pensions, liabilities, poor quality of personnel and ultimately their feeling of God given entitlement. A new owner will not want to deal with lay offs or providing voluntary retirement of such scale.

Third third issue is that there's no Pakistani entity or individual, based within the country or outside who is capable of buying/operating a undertaking of such scale. So this will have to be sold to a foreign player. With the political instability and mood swings, private capital would be very wary. So the buyer ultimately will have to be a government funded entity who holds considerable sway over the countries establishment/political apparatus ie. Middle east, China etc..

The best solution right now is to somehow keep PIA barely afloat and continue accumulating losses and debt, soon another government comes into power and this becomes their problem, ie. Kick the proverbial can down the road.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

PIA set to run more flights after credit line extended

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) said on Monday it should be able to run more flights in the coming days as the state oil company extended a credit facility, allowing it to fund fuel purchases.

Since Oct 15, 349 PIA's domestic and international flights have been cancelled because of disruption to fuel supplies. "The PIA's disrupted operations are heading toward restoration after an improved fuel supply," the airline said in a statement, adding that it has scheduled 45 flights for Monday.

"The flight operations are expected to come back to normal routine in next few days with more improvement in the fuel supply," the airline said. The airline has accumulated billions of dollars in losses and liabilities, which the caretaker government says it can no longer fund, and has been in dispute with the PSO over payments.

In a statement on Monday, the PSO said "to further support the national carrier" it had extended the credit facility by Rs500 million. It added the PIA’s outstanding balance to the PSO was Rs26.8 billion ($97.37 million).

The PSO had earlier this month suspended the credit facility, and the PIA had been paying Rs100 million against daily purchase of fuel. Pakistan said in August it would privatise the airline as part of a fiscal discipline plan agreed under an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.

The airline has long been in the crisis. PIA flights to Europe and the UK have been suspended since 2020 after the European Union's Aviation Safety Agency revoked the national carrier's authorisation to fly to the bloc following a scandal over pilot licences.

PIA set to run more flights after credit line extended | The Express Tribune

Pakistan's PIA airline resumes flights with extended credit for fuel purchases amid financial troubles

tribune.com.pk