PESHAWAR: The losses of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) were expected to come down to Rs18 billion in the current fiscal compared to the previous year, the members of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat were told last week.
A meeting of the committee was held at the conference room of the Bacha Khan International Airport with its Chairman Rana Muhammad Hayat Khan in the chair.
Other members at the meeting included Mr. Asad Umar, Mr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Mr. Ali Raza Abidi, Sardar Mansab Ali Dogar, Malik Ibrar Ahmad, Chaudhry Khalid Javaid Warraich, Sardar Muhammad Irfan Dogar, Ms Nighat Parveen Mir and others.
Acting Manager Civil Aviation Authority (CCA) Obaid ur Rehman Abbasi, Deputy Director Amir Mehboob, Director Planning and Development CCA Nadir Shafi Dar, representatives of PIA, CAA, Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) and others were present.
The participants of the meeting were told by PIA officials that the airline’s losses were expected to decrease from Rs26 billion in 2017 to Rs18 billion in the current fiscal. The total losses were Rs32 billion in 2016.
The PIA officials said the airline was gradually improving due to the drastic measures, effective strategy and planning of the federal government.
The meeting was told that more destinations were being explored for the national flag carrier to generate revenue and strengthen the financial position of the PIA.
The committee members were informed about construction of various facilities at Peshawar airport. They were told that the ongoing development work would be completed next month.
To a question, the acting manager of the Bacha Khan International Airport said the daily operations included seven international and two domestic flights. He said that flight operations were carried out between Peshawar, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other Gulf countries.
To a question, the acting manager said domestic flights between Peshawar and Karachi were carried out regularly. He said there were no flights on the Peshawar-Lahore and Peshawar-Islamabad routes due to shortage of passengers. “As these flights were not economically feasible, this would further increase the losses of PIA,” he added.
