The national flagship airline Pakistan International Airlines’ (PIA) total losses have risen by 7.3pc to Rs 282.2b in 6 months by the end of June 2016. PIA has been registering massive losses on major international routes alongside losing business domestically to other competitors.
These losses are being blamed on the wide body wet leased aircraft which have been procured at a rate of $8100 per flying from Srilankan Airline. According to PIA officials, flights from the national flagship airline are being operated on loss making routes like Karachi to New York and to the UK. Although flights to Canada and from Lahore/Islamabad to UK segment were doing much better in comparison they said and no figures of profit or loss were shared.
They also mentioned that due to the Open Skies policy of the government, major Gulf airlines have been permitted to operate their flights from various airports which has resulted in major losses to PIA. In a new plan that is under consideration, PIA will cut down the number of flights on loss making international routes and will operate from one airport instead of multiple ones before.
In the 6 months from Jan-June 2016, PIA racketed up losses to the tune of Rs20.7b which was a 62pc increase from the same period a year ago when it was Rs12.76b. The net revenue also registered a decline to Rs 48.16b in the six months from Jan-June 2016 from Rs 52.47b a year ago.
