PIA reports Rs56.09bln 2019 net loss

KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Monday reported a net loss of Rs56.03 billon for the year ended on December 31, 2019, compared to a loss of Rs43.98 billion in 2018.

The airlines, in a statement, said it has earned a gross profit of Rs7.8 billion in 2019, compared to a gross loss of Rs19.7 billion in 2018.

PIA said its revenue surged to Rs147.5 billion for the period under review as compared to Rs103.5 billion in 2018, a growth of 43 percent in 2019, while operating loss reduced by a massive 76 percent, compared to 2018.

PIA's seat factor in 2019 stood at 81 percent witnessing an improvement of 4 percentage points as compared to 2018 meeting industry-best scale, it said.

The airlines said improvement of financial results for the year 2019 was mainly due to routes optimisation & fares rationalisation, enhancement of ancillary revenue by double digits, and undertaking stringent cost discipline in all aspects of the business.

Air Marshal Arshad Malik, CEO PIA, the current year 2020 was a very a challenging one for the aviation industry keeping in view the COVID-19 pandemic, adding, extra efforts would be required, and tough decisions needed to be taken for the betterment of the airline.