‘PIA losses expected to come down to Rs18 bn’

PESHAWAR: The losses of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) were expected to come down to Rs18 billion in the current fiscal compared to the previous year, the members of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat were told on Tuesday.

A meeting of the committee was held at the conference room of the Bacha Khan International Airport with its Chairman Rana Muhammad Hayat Khan in the chair. The participants of the meeting were told by PIA officials that the airline's losses were expected to decrease from Rs26 billion in 2017 to Rs18 billion in the current fiscal. The total losses were Rs32 billion in 2016.

To a question about the involvement of the PIA crew in drug-trafficking and bringing a bad name to the country, the national airline officials said that disciplinary action was taken against crew members found guilty. They said the stay orders issued by courts to the crew were being investigated because the drug-trafficking cases were the main cause of delay in taking disciplinary action against the accused. One PIA official said it was the responsibility of the ANF to foil drug-trafficking attempts and take appropriate action.

Asad Umar expressed surprise over the statements of the Privatization Commission about the privatization of the PIA. He said the Parliament had categorically rejected the plan. The committee members were informed about construction of various facilities at Peshawar airport including a parking lot, avios bridges, elevators and other facilities under a comprehensive plan that would cost Rs2.9 billion. They were told that the ongoing development work would be completed next month. To a question, the acting manager of the Bacha Khan International Airport said the daily operations included seven international and two domestic flights.

To a question, the acting manager said domestic flights between Peshawar and Karachi were carried out regularly. He said there were no flights on the Peshawar-Lahore and Peshawar-Islamabad routes due to shortage of passengers. The meeting was told that the night-time flight operations to and from Peshawar would resume after getting security clearance from the authorities concerned.