Sale of PIA aircraft to Germany a 'mistake' : aviation advisor

KARACHI: Advisor to Prime Minister on Aviation, Sardar Mehtab Abbasi Tuesday termed the decision of 'sale' of a Pakistan International Airlines aircraft to a German museum  by the former German CEO of PIA Bernd Hildenbrand, a "mistake."

Abbasi further stated that investigation into the transaction is currently underway in Germany, adding that the aircraft was sold along with its engine as well as other valuable machinery.

Abbasi further apprised that PIA was being charged upto $200,000 in parking fee for the aircraft parked in Germany.

PIA's soaring losses

The country’s national carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is consistently facing financial losses. According to reports, the losses have soared to a staggering $4 billion. To add to this, the management appears to have failed in devising an effective strategy to pull the company out of the crisis.

Speaking to a private news channel, Advisor to Prime Minister on Aviation Sardar Mehtab Abbasi stated that the airline’s losses have reached the stark $4 billion mark, since neither the government nor the airline’s management or its employees are willing to own it.

However, Abbasi believes that if the airline is able to utilise its resources optimally, it will not be a challenge to revive the national airline.

“There is a lot of talent, a lot of potential, if they (PIA) utilises their potential to the maximum then things can change,” he said.

Earlier, there were reports that the PIA will stop flights to the US and cut jobs from October 31, after which the airline will no longer book US-bound flights through its reservation system.

It was also reported that the airline was expected to cut more than 500 jobs under the latest plan and the officials had taken this decision due to heavy losses the country’s flagship carrier was incurring—the losses were estimated to be over Rs1.25 billion annually.

Denying the reports of discontinuation of flights to the United States (US), The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) spokesperson on Sunday said that the airline service will continue its flight operations to the US until a formal decision is taken on the issue.

He also apprised that the airline service was also deliberating on devising an effective strategy to reduce the cost of operating US-bound flights.