ISLAMABAD – The National Assembly on Friday was informed that there isno plan to privatise any of the assets of Pakistan International Airlines(PIA).
Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan told the House during QuestionHour Friday that the present government is very keen to make the nationalflag carrier self-reliant and profitable entity.
“Loss making routes have been closed, work on profitable routes is underwayand facilities and renovation would also be ensured at small airports,”said Minister while responding to volley of questions raised by opposition,during Question-hour of Friday’s National Assembly session. Efforts areunderway to improve the financial health of the airline by reducing itslosses through various means, he added.
Responding to a question, the Aviation Minister said eighty two pilots weredismissed for acquiring the licenses through unfair means. He said atransparent mechanism has now been evolved to ensure the issuance oflicenses in a transparent manner. An agreement to this effect has also beensigned with the UK Civil Aviation Authority. He said the InternationalCivil Aviation Authority will carry out an audit of our Civil AviationAuthority in July this year. He was confident this will lead to removal oftravel restrictions on the PIA in the European countries and that theairline will regain its past glory.
The House in yesterday’s proceedings spent ninety percent of its timediscussing matters related to the Civil Aviation Authority [CAA]. Ministerdid not hesitate to once again strongly criticise the working of previousgovernments while responding to the queries related to his previousstatement about fake degree pilots. However, the opposition members intheir question missed no chance to jeer at the minister for making acontroversial statement that brought a bad name to the country.
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About the imposition of restrictions by international authorities, theMinister clarified that multiple factors including plane crash incident inKarachi, safety objections and others played its role. Minister wasconfident to tackle the travel restrictions on the PIA in the Europeancountries. “I am confident that our national flag carrier will regain itspast glory,” he commented.
“Unlike the fake claims of the previous government, the incumbent regime ismaking all out efforts to make the flag carrier a self-reliant entity,” hesaid and assured to deal with the crisis to bring PIA back on its track.
