The national flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), was once a profitable organisation and a pride of the nation. There was a time when every other youngster dreamt of donning its uniform and working for the airline.
So massive was its stature that Emirates, which is among the top airlines in the world today, got PIA’s crucial support when it was founded. The national flag carrier provided the new airline two aircraft, staff and the necessary technical expertise.
But have you wondered how our national airline came into being? The story starts just a few years before Pakistan was created.
Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had asked industrialist MA Isphahani to set up an airline. What the Quaid had in mind was that the future state would have two wings separated by thousands of miles. To link them, an airline was direly needed. As a result Orient Airways was established and four Douglas DC-3s were bought from Tempo of Texas. The airline’s operation started in June 1947 – just two months before Pakistan came into being.
Within eight years, the government decided to set up a national airline and invited Orient Airways to merge into it. Therefore on January 10, 1955, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was established – greatly benefiting from the staff and expertise of Orient Airways.
From then on, there was no looking back for the airline. It soared to great heights. But in all of this, its management played an important role. Its first managing director, Zafarul Ahsan, established the first PIA head office building. He was followed by Air Commodore Nur Khan, who transformed the airline into one of the most topmost airlines in the world. His six-year tenure is regarded as the ‘Golden Years of PIA’. Over the years, the airline acquired many feathers in its cap and achieved many distinctions.
However, poor management led to its decline and today it has become nothing more than a ‘white elephant’.
In recent days, almost the entire fleet came to a standstill due to lack of fuel, with many flights being cancelled.
But is it truly suffering losses.
Many within the airline claim that it is still a profit-making entity and that it is being deliberately shown as incurring loss.
PIA’s Senior Staff Association General Secretary Safdar Anjum claimed that the national carrier was being destroyed “under a planned conspiracy” and blamed the management for its present state of affairs.
He went on to say that PIA’s flights to United Kingdom and Europe routes remain suspended for over three years.
Even then the airline was earning well, and its only burden was bank loans, which could be repaid if the management solved the financial crisis, Mr Anjum insisted.
The current caretaker government, however, is making every effort to privatize the airline as it considered it a liability.
But has it ever wondered why are national entities ending up in such dire straits. Why do the governments not look into the root causes and rectify them. Why does any government for that matter wake up when the fortunes of an organisation plummet – be it the Pakistan Steel Mills, PIA, PTCL or even Pakistan Railways. Pakistan Television should also be counted among such organisations but thanks to the Rs35 tax that the citizens pay with their electricity bills, it is surviving.
How about introducing a similar tax for a short duration for PIA to bring it out of the financial abyss.
