KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Wednesday,6 September, named Musharraf Rasool Cyan as its New Chief Executive, entrusting him with the difficult task of turning around the national carrier´s fortunes after a turbulent year.
Cyan, who is known as a ´professional technocrat´, will face an uphill task in returning the airline to profitability and improving the carrier´s reputation which was dented by aATR crash in December last.
“(Cyan) brings with him a vast experience of more than 26 years in public sector management, service reforms, project planning and economic development programs,” PIA said in a statement on Wednesday.
Cyan´s appointment follows the removal of the carrier´s German Chief Executive Bernd Hildenbrand, who was ousted in April after authorities launched a corruption investigation into leasing of planes from a SriLankan carrier.
In an interview with Reuters in March, Hildenbrand told that PIA was losing about 3.1 billion rupees ($30 million) per month, while Gulf-based rivals such as Etihad Airlines and Emirates Airlines were eating up its market share.
PIA said Cyan is the first Chief Executive officer after the carrier´s conversion into a public limited company in December 2016.
