KARACHI – Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Pakistan International Airline(PIA) Air Marshal Arshad Malik in a video message on Friday, said that theefforts for improvement had started yielding results in the PIA in just oneyear’s time despite of challenges ahead.
He said that PIA’s revenue during past six months had increased bymore than40 percent; seat factor also improved and was now between 80 to 84 percentwhich was considered a good performance indicator in the aviation industry,said a statement issued by PIA here Friday.
The cargo space utilization of the airline has been increased from 50percent toalmost 80 percent. PIA also enhanced its engineering capabilities and nowaircraft maintenance i.e. line maintenance and Check A can be performed atLahore and Islamabad which was previously available only at Karachi, saidthe CEO of PIA.
He said two aircraft that were grounded since long, were made serviceablein the current year and now all Boeing 777s and A320 aircraft in PIA fleetwere operational and contributing towards revenue generation.
Arshad Malik said a proper aircraft spared inventory planning program,whichwas lacking before, had also been implemented in PIA which had reduced theaircraft down time and better serviceability of aircraft.
He shared that the ground service equipment which played an important rolefor any airline was neglected in the past. The ground service equipmentthat was scrapped had been overhauled by utilizing the airline’s ownresources thus saving millions of rupees which were given to other serviceagencies.
Air Marshal Arshad Malik said that PIA in the current year, renewed itsIATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certification and was now in theprocess of attaining EASA certification.
He said that PIA’s property assets in Pakistan and abroad were neglectedand abandoned in past, This year, we identified these properties in USA,Amsterdam, Iran, Tashkent and other countries and are trying to make betteruse of them.
PIA CEO said the airline had introduced 13 new routes since last 12 months,increased frequencies of flights based on demand prospects and commercialviability. He went on to say that unlike the past, all business decisionswere now made collectively.
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Arshad Malik said that plans were underway for operating direct flights toNew York.Preliminary meetings had been held in this regard and PIA was complyingwith the security and safety standards of TSA. Two narrow body aircraftwould also be inducted in PIA fleet by end of the current month.
He said that no planning or up-gradation was made in the past for in-flightentertainment and passengers’ comfort on board the aircraft. This year, thein-flight system was being planned to be upgraded for the convenience ofpassengers on long haul flights. Co-branding initiatives had also beentaken to promote tourism in the country and for providing better servicesto the passengers.
He said that merit had been implemented in PIA and all promotions andforeign posting had been done purely on merit without any outside influence.
He thanked the government for extending its full support in this regard.
Referring human resources in PIA, he said that majority of the airlineoperations were from Islamabad and adjoining cities while most of the humanresource was based at Karachi. Terming the human resources in PIA as anasset, he said that now employees had been positioned according to the sizeof operation and number of flights that were operating from Islamabad.
‘Make us proud by choosing PIA and we will look after you (passengers) andtogether we will achieve greater heights not only for PIA but for thecountry,’ the CEO concluded.
