ISLAMABAD: Minister for Aviation Division, Ghulam Sarwar Khan on Thursday said that during last five years, degrees of 521 employees of Pakistan International Airlines were found fake, bogus or tempered.
Replying to a question of Ms. Tahira Aurangzeb in the National Assembly, the minister said that out of total, 329 Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited (PIACL) employees have been separated from services till date while 192 employees were on court stay or their cases are under process.
In a written reply to a question of Dr Shazia Sobia Aslam Soomro, the minister said that PIA present management had taken measures to improve its performance and reduce the losses including launching of viable new routes like Sialkot-Sharjah, Lahore-Muscat, Islamabad-Doha and Lahore-Bangkok-Kualalampur, Sialkot-Paris Barcelona, Peshawar-Sharjah, Peshawar-Al-Ain and Multan-Sharjah.
These routes are satisfactory and economically viable. He added other steps including increasing frequencies and capacity on profitable routes like Jeddah and Madina especially from Faisalabad, closure of loss making routes like, New York, Salalah (Oman), Kuwait, Mumbai, replacing the 20 years old and highly expensive software system with new HITIT which is very cost effective and huge savings are expected.
He said that an effective austerity and cost saving drive was initiated which included curtailment of unnecessary visits by officials both foreign and domestic.
He said instructions have been issued to make use of technological assistance like video calls, conference calls etc.
He said that other austerity measures included retrieving company vehicles and eliminating fuel allocations accordingly, stoppage of all officiating and extra allowances given on additional assignments to officials, ban on overtime allowances in all cadres, abolishing VIP protocols and deployment of workers on real assignments.
He said that the steps are also being taken for streamlining the business activities and discipline at Airport Hotel which was going in losses and now revenues were improving. He added effective monitoring and vigilance are being made of all areas to eliminate pilferage and leakages.
Ghulam Sarwar said that an improvement in food quality was made with inclusion of refined menu in the light of recommendations and suggestions received from passengers besides introduction of executive economy class on European and Gulf sectors which were attracting more customers.
He said that rationalization of fares according to market demand and delays of flights have been cut down significantly by better planning in engineering besides flight operation and ground handling departments, special emphasis on cargo business with monitoring of performance, rationalization of cargo fares and more effective liaison with all stakeholders and special focus on Umrah and Ziarat business by introduction of attractive fares and increasing capacity.