Daily Times

Communications are the backbone of any well-functioning economy. One aspect of communication is air travel. Air travel in Pakistan is dominated by various airlines such as Air Blue, Serene and PIA amongst many new emerging airlines. The national air carrier-PIA- due to inefficient practices and prevalence of vested interests experienced a slump during the past couple of decades.

Compounding the problem was the illegal appointment of ex-CEO: Musharraf Rasool. The Supreme Court has since set aside the appointment. However, since a new team led by Pakistan Air Force officers has been deputed to the airline, PIA has seen an economic as well as an image revival and is no longer regarded as a ‘white elephant’.

Delving a bit into the history, Pakistan International Airline’s was the first Asian airline to operate Jumbo Jets, beginning in the 1960s with the commission of a 707. Since then, its fleet has been in a dysfunctional condition until the present team came in to revive its fortunes.

They brought the planes that were in a non-functional state to an operational state. Moreover, two new aircraft have been inducted in PIA. PIA has given its strategic business plan 2019-23 which outlines how it will come out of the dire present situation and move to greater heights.

PIA has undertaken sustainable measures for decreasing financial losses and it has started to generate its own money-making mechanisms, particularly by opening up new routes and better ticketing procedures through which seats don’t go empty. It has also launched a targeted social media campaign to attract customers. Small gestures such as handing out Pakistani flags on Quaid’s birthday have had a mass appeal. However, it must be noted that the government is still providing subsidies to the airline due to steps still needed to revive the brand image loss that the airline had incurred in the previous decades.

Nevertheless, steps in the right direction include launching various new services for its users, including code share agreement and e-ticketing service. An effective austerity and cost-saving drive has been initiated which includes decreasing unnecessary foreign and domestic visits by officials and making use of technology in order for effective communication.

Other measures undertaken include abolishing VIP protocols and deployment of workers on real assignments, monitoring of flights by senior officials, increasing regularity and punctuality of flights by assigning targets to be achieved.

Issues pertaining to usage of flight plans which involve reduction of short flight paths and routes that incurred losses such as New York, Mumbai, and Tokyo have been resolved.

This has resulted in huge savings in fuel expenses. It is pertinent to mention here that the staff at PIA is working extra hours

The measures to ensure the revival of the airline can be summarized below:

New routes being introduced including Sialkot-Sharjah, Lahore-Muscat, Sialkot-Paris-Barcelona, &Multan-Sharjah

Cost reduction measures in place to narrow down losses of the national carrier

Runway and taxiways of various routes (previously rendered un operational) such as Saidu Sharif and Rawalakot has been completed

Separation of regulatory and service provider functions of the Civil Aviation Authority promoting efficiency in aviation activities.

Gwadar International Airport has been made operational

Automatic weather stations and weather radars have been installed to prevent delays

According to sources, monthly losses have decreased due to implementation of such norms.

In the customer service domain, PIA is proactively interacting with its customers through online social media channels (such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc) and has launched its first website as well.

Additionally, for the first time, PIA has entered into a contract with all three major Global Distribution Systems (GDS), which will help PIA increase its visibility on travel agent setups and also on channels like Online Travel Agents (OTAs) and Meta search engines. Moreover, the maintenance, repair and overhaul system has improved greatly, and the airline is also working to start a Baggage Reconciliation System (BRS) by the mid-2020s.

PIA is working to improve its performance in various departments (media, logistics, aeroplanes, staffing, etc) and its economic losses have curbed in recent months. PIA plans to reduce its operational cost, efficiently utilize its assets, and increase revenues through effective management and proper utilization of available financial and human resources.

In order to achieve this, the former chairman of PIA inked out a detailed strategy whereby losses will be reduced in a step-by-step manner. The question that remains will be whether this strategy is followed through after the suspension of the visionary chairman by the Supreme Court.

PIA also envisions better facilitation of its passengers. One example of such a step is how PIA successfully completed its Haj endeavour through proper flight booking and is now facilitating pilgrims by helping them with baggage and immigration controls.

In the future, PIA can also play a pivotal role as the national flag carrier and reach new heights as it did during the time of Air Marshal Nur Khan and Asghar Khan. The government has made its intention clear to not privatize the airline and, in this regard, effective measures will be taken by the management in order to generate investment for the airline, give proper payback to the existing shareholders and prevent losses.

PIA staff and management are working round the clock to turn the dream of the Prime Minister into a reality and will eventually get the airline back to the stature that it had in the 70s.

The author is a researcher based in Islamabad.