TLTP
ISLAMABAD
Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed to ensure the best quality of services in the aviation sector.
Chairing a review meeting on aviation facilities on Tuesday, the prime minister said that launching an effective competitive process in the country is the need of the hour to provide the best possible services to the passengers.
The prime minister also directed to improve the performance of national airline Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
The meeting was attended by Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Finance Minister Shaukat Fayyaz Tarin and concerned senior officers.
PIA’s CEO Arshad Malik announced plans last week to further cut PIA’s workforce as part of reforms to make the airline’s operations efficient and return to profitability. He said the reform process would continue as it had helped in significantly bringing down the employee per aircraft ratio to 260 from 550 in 2017.
The reforms would help PIA “save around Rs8 billion ($45.2 million) annually with the reduction of its staff strength”, the CEO said, adding that the key elements of the restructuring process were enforcing discipline and improving services to bring the airline at par with international standards.
Pakistani airlines have been hit hardest by the pandemic and also due to restrictions by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) over safety concerns. The restrictions were recently withdrawn by UN aviation agency ICAO, signalling the return of Pakistan flights to Europe, the US and UK in February or March this year.
