KARACHI, April 21: Defence Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal has said that the PIA has made remarkable progress during the last couple of years. "This is really commendable that the PIA has become a profit- earning organization,"
said Mr Iqbal during a presentation on PIA affairs held on Wednesday.
He appreciated and congratulated the PIAC chairman Ahmed Saeed and his officers and staff for giving excellent performance in such a short span of time. However, the minister noted that despite a visible improvement by the marketing department in maximizing the airline's revenue, the service was still below the industry standard.
He said that the airline still needed certain measures to achieve the peak of success. He expressed hope that the PIA would be at the top among the world airlines in the near future.
Referring to the induction of eight 777 Boeing in PIA fleet, he described it as a positive step. He pointed out that there were certain misperceptions among the parliamentarians and certain people about this purchase. "Certain quarters have raised doubts about its price, which should be clarified through good media campaign," he added.
The minister underlined the need to start Haj operation from Central Punjab, particularly from Rahimyar Khan and Faisalabad. He said that the parliamentarians had been raising this issue in the assembly repeatedly owing to public pressure.
Earlier, PIA Director Marketing Kamran Aslam gave a detailed presentation on various aspects of PIA's performance and progress. He briefed the minister about fleet modernization, including the induction of three out of eight Boeing 777, increased level of automation, switch over to Sabre Reservation and Accounting Systems, launch of international standard customer contact centre, implementation of integrated/interactive Frequent Flyer Programme, new cabin crew uniform and improved check- in/cabin service standards.
Referring to the upgraded engineering facilities, he said that the PIA had achieved JAR145 certification creating enhanced opportunities for outside maintenance jobs. He informed the minister that PIA's destinations on international route network had jumped from 27 in the year 2002 to around 50 by December this year.
From Jan 2003 to March 2004, he said, the PIA added routes of Chicago, Mashad, Sharjah, Almaty, Tashkent, Colombo, Delhi, Dhaka, Katmandu, Mumbai and Kabul. Besides, he said that the PIA was set to add Houston, Los Angeles, Moscow, Milan, Shanghai, Urumqi, Fujairah and Ras Alkhaimah by July 2004 and Glasgow, Damascus, Nairobi and Male by December 2004.
In his welcome address, the PIAC chairman Ahmed Saeed said that as a result of strenuous efforts and prudent policies adopted by the airline management, the PIA achieved a passenger traffic growth of 15.5 per cent during the first quarter of 2004, surpassing the budgeted target by 3.2 per cent.
He said that the PIA was expected to earn a profit of Rs1.7 billion during the first quarter, despite absorbing additional fuel cost of Rs600 million. About marketing policies, Ahmed Saeed said that since the introduction of Open Sky Policy allowing scheduled and charter operators, foreign carriers had been operating substantial dedicated cargo capacity to Pakistan.
However, he added, they had a strong preference for dry cargo and avoid the lower yield perishables so important to the agricultural base of our economy. In this scenario, the PIA inducted a dedicated freighter aircraft to boost exports, especially perishables, he said. -APP
