The PIA, nation can’t afford anymore

Amid worsening financial conditions, Pakistan International Airline (PIA) demanded a huge sum of money from the government to repair its planes and pay for ground services. The government is hesitant to accept the request because of the prevailing financial constraints that marred the whole nation. The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) also mum on the issue and constituted a sub-committee to weigh the pros and cons of the PIA plea which has been a recurrent phenomenon year-on-year basis. Currently, the PIA authorities fear reducing its operational fleet to 15 planes if it fails to get immediate and enormous financial assistance from the government.

White elephants, deadly monsters, metastatic cancers, or a herd of giant squids are terms equally suited to Pakistani state-owned entities that kneel the 230 million-strong nation on the ground. The colossal size of WAPDA, Pakistan Railway, the PIA, Pakistan Steel Mills, Pakistan Post, nearly a dozen Power distribution companies and diverse other government-run departments are the real reasons behind the ailing economy of the country. Poor nation each year funds hundred billion rupees to keep running the wheel of those entities, to pay salaries of employees and cater for other urgent expenses on one hand, while the government is compelled to adjust a bulk of circular debt that is another product of mismanagement and non-utilisation of those corporations. Whatever the account, the department or administrator might be, the ultimate victim would be the government, the end user and the common citizen.

Once, glorified around the globe, from the US’s West Coast to Far East Australia, the PIA is now a sick man who has collapsed under its body weight. The PIA operational fleet has squeezed from 42 flying machines to merely 15 small-size air busses, age-ridden for aircraft, together with a few luxurious modern aircraft primarily for use of the ruling elite or top military generals for convenience and show off. Otherwise, a majority of Pakistani travellers except government employees use foreign airlines which offer cost-effective, comfortable and luxurious journeys. Meanwhile, the PIA itself sold out its air routes to other airlines because of scarcity of aeroplanes, shortage of aircrew or non-feasibility of the routes etc. Different governments used diverse strategies to revive the glorious period of the PIA history, Besides injecting billions of rupees in funds, the appointment of air force generals in a bid to use their aviation expertise for PIA’s rebuilding. All those administrators only filled their pockets, appeased their bosses, colleagues, family and friends, many of them still enjoying lucrative service in the airline but the mission remained un-accomplished over the past several decades.

The PIA had been dragging under the heavy burden of nonproductive employees, non-licensed pilots and unskilled engineers whose colossal enumeration and no productivity ruined the institution. Presently, almost half of the PIA’s inventory is grounded and the airline operates on leased aircraft, borrowed engines and borrowed administrators which is a matter of shame for the institution as well as for the nation. The so-called aviators had already submerged a renowned airline and now intend to sink the nation under the burden of their sins/ corruption. In fact, the nation does not need a flagging career, it is an requirement of the ruling class that avails state protocol, instant and nonstop air travel. The nation could not afford such luxury and the PIA must be privatised at the earliest. That would not only save hard-earned public money but would also provide essential funds to steer the nation through the crucial period.