PIA to be made profitable organization: Senate told

ISLAMABAD, Nov 9 (APP): Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs
Sheikh Aftab Ahmed Monday apprised the Senate that the government
would utilize all available resources to make the Pakistan International Airline (PIA) a profitable state-entity within two years.
Responding to a motion moved by Senator Farhatullah Babar to
discuss the overall performance of the PIA with a view to making recommendations for its improvement, the minister said losses of PIA have
come down from Rs 44 billion to Rs 20 billion in one year and the national fleet would be turned into profit-earning entity in next two years.
He said PIA suffered losses due to mismanagement and corruption in the
past and the present government has taken appropriate measures to improve its performance.
The minister said there were only 13 aircraft when the present
government came into power but now the number has increased to 36.
He said soon after assuming the charge, the government had injected Rs 16 billion to PIA for meeting their expenditures. He said from the released amount, the PIA had managed to make its aircraft operational.
Sheikh Aftab Ahmed said that Managing Director of PIA was
serving the airlines without any financial benefit.
Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani on the suggestion of
Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed had announced to constitute an All Parties Committee to look into the affairs of PIA and submit a report to the Senate accordingly.
The committee would have representation from all provinces and political parties.
He said formation of the committee would be announced in consultation with leader of the House and the Opposition leader in the Senate.
Taking part in the debate of the motion, Farhatullah Babar said that PIA was one of the best airlines of the world in the past and it had introduced the cargo service at that time.
Mushahid Hussain suggested the formation of the committee under the supervision of Mushahidullah Khan.
He said PIA was the airlines that linked China with other parts of the world and extended support to the Emirates and Singapore airlines.
Mushahidullah Khan said that reforms introduced in the PIA
would make it a profitable organization, hoping that suspended routes of PIA
would be restored soon.
Those who took part in the discussion included Tahir Hussain Mashhadi,
Azam Khan Musakhel, Ayesha Raza, Shahi Syed, Mir Kabir, Dr. Jehanzeb
Jamaldini, Nauman Wazir, Nihal Hashmi, Mian Attique Shaikh, Mohsin
Aziz, Saeed Ghani, Rehman Malik and Nasreen Jalil.