*ISLAMABAD: *The total liabilities of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)has reached Rs406 billion against its assets only Rs111 billion.
The national carrier submitted a comprehensive report in a suo motu caseregarding irregularities in the department, wherein it is stated that PIAhas accumulated losses of Rs356 billion including the loss incurred in 2017.
“The balance sheet is now very weak with total liabilities amounting toRs406 billion against assets of only Rs111 billion. Today, PIA is only ableto continue operating due to the government’s financial support,” says thereport.
It is also informed that the company has been operating most of its routeson losses, has far too many employees for the size of operations and haslagged in the current business environment while its business model andoperations are not capable of making profits.
Last year PIA was incurring losses, a number of aircraft grounded, sufferedfrom demotivated staff, political interference, revenue leakages, andlittle if any interdepartmental coordination, the report highlights.
The report submitted to the SC also read that the national airline lacksthe capability to improve its performance given core competency gaps in thewhole organisation including the senior executive leadership. Reasonsidentified include political appointments and extremely poor HR practiceswhile PIA as an organisation operates like an outdated governmentdepartment rather than a modern business.
“Unions and associations have perfected tools to obstruct management drivesat revival with malice”, adds the report, stating that PIA is heavilyburdened with unions and they should not be allowed to interfere in themanagement process.
The report further identifies that unions are also negatively impacting indaily operations by influencing employees to ‘go slow’ when they wish toapply pressure to the management. Recently, they have been carrying out amaligning campaign to thwart efforts to clean up HR practices.