ISLAMABAD – The federal government has once again come to rescue thePakistan International Airline (PIA) as it almost got banned from landingin Saudi Arabia.
The finance ministry issued another Rs. 2.5 billion for the prospectiveHajj pilgrims so that the long-pending dues to the Saudi General Authorityof Civil Aviation (GACA) could be cleared.
The dues had been piling up for the airline’s regularly scheduled flights,and GACA had demanded PIA to clear the past dues at the earliest or face aban.——————————
The government had to intervene because such a ban could have provendestructive for the national flag carrier, especially with Hajj seasonaround the corner.
Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan defended the move ofunusual routing of funds by saying that it was necessary to save PIA fromdefault.
He said the funds were used to clear PIA’s dues which had been adding updue to ill-planning by the previous governments.——————————
Ghulam Sarwar confirmed that PIA owed billions of rupees to GACA, had beenon its default list and was on the verge of being banned from entering theSaudi airspace.
He explained that the government usually pays PIA for its services afterthe completion of Hajj program. But, as this was a matter of urgency, theairline got the payment in advance.
He assured that there would be no delay in PIA’s Hajj operations which willcontinue from July 4 to September 14.
As per government data, as many as 78,000 pilgrims – 13,000 more pilgrimsthan last year – will travel on 350 PIA flights.