PIA head office to be shifted to Islamabad

LAHORE: The head office of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will be shifted from Karachi to Islamabad as part of the airline’s restructuring plan beginning next month.

Three divisions --- flight services, the commercial department, and human resources --- will be shifted to the federal capital in January 2021.

Moreover, other operations, including flight scheduling and medical division, the department of corporate development, work division, and supply chain management, will be moved to Islamabad by the end of February 2021.

Internal audit, corporate secretariat, and finance departments will be moved to Islamabad by the end of March 2021, and the engineering department will be shifted by the end of June 2021.

The airline’s annual expenses of Rs24.8 billion on human resources will be reduced by half under the restructuring plan. In this regard, the airline has proposed several cost-cutting measures that include a Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS), a Mandatory Separation Scheme (MSS), changes in the medical policy, and the rationalization of passage facility (air tickets).

The PIA currently has over 4,500 workers for just 29 aircraft at a ratio of 500:1. In contrast, several top airlines like Qatar Airways, Emirates, and Etihad have 191:1, 231:1, and 211:1 employees to aircraft ratios, respectively.

The national airline aims to reduce its employees per aircraft from 500 to 250 via VSS under which nearly 500 employees have retired after receiving a golden handshake.

The PIA expected 3,000 of its employees to utilize VSS and if the expected number is not acquired through it, the airline will introduce MSS to lay off its remaining employees.

The PIA’s excess employees will be forced to retire on the basis of their performances, experience, and value addition, and the employees leaving under MSS will not be given any financial package, medical or passage facility after retirement.

The PIA has also decided to discontinue its current medical facility and replace it with Sehat Cards. If this option is infeasible, either the designated expensive private hospitals will be replaced with inexpensive government hospitals, or nominal medical encashment will be made in the salaries of the employees.