Two billion monthly loss-making PIA increases salaries by Rs915mn
LAHORE: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will be spending Rs915 million in salary increases granted to pilots, hinted a notification issued by the Pakistan Airline Pilots Association (PALPA).
ماہانہ 2 ارب روپے کا خسارہ لیکن پھر بھی پی آئی اے تنخواہوں میں اضافہ کردیا، 915 ملین کا مزید بوجھ ڈال دیا
“The aviation secretary was convinced that the increment of Rs915 million (per annum) was based upon restructuring 75 hours guaranteed with 10 days off in a month and not linked to any fixed percentage, therefore he assured PALPA Executive Committee that he would do the needful for the implementation of the same through the board of directors and Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited (PIACL),” read the notification.
According to industry experts, PIA used to pay the pilots 50 guaranteed flying hours based on their average utilisation, which used to be around 43 to 45 hours per month. Now, they added, the PIA flight schedules and the effective aircraft fleet has shrunk while the number of pilots remains the same, bringing their average utilisation to 28 to 30 hours.
The increase to 75 guaranteed hours will cost the national carrier an additional Rs915 million per year.
“The airline is making losses and the Inflight Entertainment System (IFES) of the aircraft is redundant. Airlines usually change or upgrade the IFES system after every four to five years. With Rs915 million, PIA could have changed a large proportion of the obsolete and non-operational IFES. The priority of the airlines should be to improve the customer experience,” an independent aviation expert told this scribe.
On the other hand, a document pertaining to the special audit from 2008 to 2017, revealed the exorbitant salaries paid to the PIA Investment Limited (PIAL) managing director and other employees.
“It was observed that an amount of $5.869 million was paid by the management of PIAIL on account of remuneration to employees, post-employment benefit and bonus to directors…,” the documents read.
As per the document, the key management personnel compensation was $195,378 in 2007, which increased to $546,553 by 2012. In 2017, the amount was recorded at $811,581, showing a 315 per cent increase in 10 years.
The document further revealed that Najeeb Samie, who was appointed as the PIAL managing director on April 3, 2006, retired in July 2016. However, he is still working on a two-year contract which on expiry was renewed for another two years and according to the document his appointment was done unjustifiably against government instructions.
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