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Friday March 29, 2024

PM to take key decisions on PIA, Civil Aviation Division

By Fasihur Rehman Khan
February 29, 2016

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is expected to take key decisions regarding restructuring and overhaul of the PIA within days, and also approve plans for the new airliner – the Pakistani Airways.

The new airline, expected to be inaugurated/operational by August 2016, will have 10-12 top-of-the-line fuel efficient aircraft with new, profitable international routes to operate on, officials revealed.

“It will be a premium airline, and PIA passengers will have the facility to avail travel facility in the new airline through a mechanism being worked out,” a top official said in a background briefing.

By March end 2016, PIA is all set to have a fleet of 44 aircraft, currently it has 41. In year 2015, the airliner had 38 aircraft registering a sharp surge compared to 2013 when it touched all-time low of 18. 

“With PIA and Pakistan Airways the total number of aircraft will touch 60 plus by the end of year 2016,” he said. “The prime minister is in search for the new chairman of PIA, and we are expecting a decision in this regard soon.

The gentleman is going to be a professional from the private sector. Already we have a PIA board with members who  are top professionals and entrepreneurs from the private sector,” he added. Pakistan Airways will have new professional, trained staff, new make-up, logos for the aircraft, it was learnt. An official report prepared by Aviation Division, for briefing of the prime minister, a copy of which was obtained by The News, puts the current union activities at top of the challenges being faced by PIA. It also mentions financial restructuring, procurement and logistics under PPRA rules, litigation and 1140 plus court cases and stay orders as main stumbling blocks in the way of restructuring and overhaul of the national airliner. The meeting is also expected to take into consideration the legal proceedings regarding Mr. Shujaat Azeem, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM), who has been barred by the top court to function pending hearing in a case. Despite many aspirants for the top office of Aviation Division, the Premier is not ready to let go Mr Azeem for putting up a wonderful performance in restructuring Aviation division and PIA, hoping his case will be settled soon. National Aviation Policy unveiled by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on March 19, 2015 after a lapse of 15 years, was also brought in by SAPM on Aviation. 

Meanwhile, the report says, around 90 per cent of overall work has been completed for the new Islamabad airport by January 2016. Only 56 per cent was completed by February 2014, while Instrumental Landing System CAT 3/B, which facilitates aircraft landing even in 50 meter visibility, upgradation is in progress. New Gawadar International Airport with a projected cost of Rs 22.247 billion is expected to be completed with 30-32 months. Framework agreement on engineering, procurement and construction basis by Chinese contractor is in place. 

ILS CAT 3/B is already operational at Lahore airport from December 2015. At a cost of $25 million, it was a gift from Qatar brought in Pakistan by Shujaat Azeem. Similarly, ILS CAT I has already been replaced at Karachi airport, new ILS CAT II installed at Peshawar airport and ILS CAT I for secondary runway of Lahore Airport.    

Replacement of 25-year old radar system at Karachi and Lahore airports at a cost of Rs1,572 million is expected to be achieved by December 2016, the report says. Radars are being installed by M/S INDRA of Spain. A 360 degree Aerodrome Simulator costing Rs309 million is being installed at Civil Aviation Training Institute (CATI) Hyderabad. The equipment to train air traffic controllers and staff, is state of the art, and has been gifted by Bahrain.   

Similarly, existing aerobridges, for direct boarding of passengers to aircraft, are being replaced after a gap of 23 years with new state of the art aerobridges at a cost of Rs1.56 billion. The project is expected to be completed by October 2016. 

Integrated Security System for airport security is under way with a total project cost of Rs400 million overall. First installation at Lahore Airport has already been completed.    

Multan International Airport was completed and inaugurated on March 9, 2015. Two additional bridges for passengers were also inaugurated. 

A new look was given to Benazir Bhutto International Airport Islamabad with a cost of Rs479 million and that too within 7 months. It was inaugurated by PM on May 17, 2015. The hallmark of this renovation and new look was long awaited Taxi Track Delta at a cost of Rs 200 million. Aviation experts say this will save Rs1 million per annum for airlines in terms of fuel saving. Renovation and expansion included redesigned and expanded passengers car park for 700 cars, 300 cars park for new functionaries, new business lounge, 32 new public washrooms etc. Earlier in August, 2014 Hajj Lounge of Lahore airport was completed at a cost of Rs13.64 million.  

Upgradation work of Terminal Building of Quetta International Airport with a projected cost of Rs1,611 million has already been commenced in December 2015. Project includes two passenger boarding bridges, new concourse hall and allied facilities. 

Radio Navigation Aids (new Doppler VOR) at Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar airports have already been installed. Already, 8 Cobus Buses have been received from Qatar for aircraft passenger transportation, as a gift.   

With the recent strike causing roughly Rs4-5 billion losses to PIA, efforts are afoot to introduce steps to improve efficiency of staff and overall affairs of the national airliner. In 2015, PIA reported that its overall losses were reduced by 54 per cent, and minus the legacy loan burden, it will be at breakeven. Overall losses of PIA, calculated before taxation were reduced to Rs19 billion in 2015, compared to Rs29 billion in 2014 and a whopping Rs42 billion in 2013 when it was left to rot under the previous PPP regime.  

The new aircraft inductions, officials say, will reduce the average age of the fleet from 16 years to nine years. The main objective of the airliner is to bring the average fleet age to 6 years – prevalent standard in top world airliners. After grounding A-310 aircraft and acquiring new A-330 aircraft the average felt age of the airliner will come down to 6 years by the end of 2016, it was learnt. Currently Emirates airlines has 6.5 years of average fleet age, followed by Qatar with 7.5 years, Singapore airline has 8 years, and Air India 9.5 as average fleet age, it was learnt. 

Additional aircraft have helped reduce fuel cost and improve on time performance of PIA which touched 84 per cent by end of 2015 compared to 66 per cent in 2013. Top airlines in the region and Asia like Emirates registered 84 per cent, Qatar 87 per cent during this period. While Saudi airlines remained at 81 per cent, Gulf at 76 per cent, and Air India 76 per cent. 

In terms of intense cost cutting measures by the management Rs1.2 billion have been saved by closing operation on loss making routes like Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, and Bangkok. Closure of offline International stations like Chicago, Istanbul has saved the airline an additional Rs61 million. Similarly, Shifting/reduction of office space at JFK New York, Doha, London and Paris has also saved the airliner Rs 87 million.