Saad inaugurates PIA’s Executive Lounge

LAHORE:Federal Minister for Railways and Aviation Khawaja Saad Rafiq inaugurated the PIA Executive Lounge at Allama Iqbal International Airport on Monday.

Speaking on the occasion, Kh Saad Rafiq congratulated the airline management and all the employees for improving and enhancing passenger facilitation. He said PIA has seen its unprecedented heyday but if the employees of PIA continue to work with integrity and commitment, the day is not far when PIA will regain its lost glory.

He said that the upgradation of the Executive Lounge was long overdue for some ten years but now it has been completed in record time. PIA Business Class passengers will benefit from the services of this lounge. Snacks, hot and cold drinks will be provided to business class passengers without any charges.

Apart from Lahore, the renovation of the Executive Class Lounge has also been completed at Karachi Airport, while the latest Airbus A-320 Simulator has been installed for the training of pilots. These facilities will be inaugurated next week.

The federal minister said that PIA is currently operating 25 aircraft; however, this number is expected to go up to 28 by January. In addition to this, 10 new aircrafts will be added to PIA’s fleet. Seats of seven Airbus A-320S and two Boeing 777 aircraft are being refurbished. The new in-flight entertainment system will also be activated very soon.

Saad Rafiq said that 17 of our small domestic airports are closed. “We are working on many fronts for the improvement of PIA. PIA employees are being posted abroad purely on merit. We have done away with the culture of ‘Sifarish’ in PIA”, the minister concluded.

CEO PIA Air Vice-Marshal Amir Hayat, Chief Operating Officer Amanullah Qureshi, Chief Project Officer Khurram Mushtaq, GM Tariq Majeed, Station Manager Ali Asghar Zaidi, District Manager Zaheeruddin, Deputy GM Ali Abbas Shah and other senior officers were also present on the occasion.

Health secy listens to public complaints: The process of providing relief to the complainants on the spot through the open court is going here in the office of Secretary of Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education (SH&ME) Department.

The Secretary Dr Ahmed Javed Qazi said that the requests of the patients were being heard on priority basis through the open court. All the officers are immediately processing the requests. It is being made easy by making quick decisions on the applicants' requests. He said that instead of keeping the applicants standing in long queues, the applications were facilitated through open court every day.