ISLAMABAD, April 7: The newly-appointed Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) chairman, Zaffar A. Khan, on Saturday said he would be tackling the problems afflicting the national flag carrier with “an open and fresh mind”.

Talking to Dawn soon after being notified as successor to Tariq Kirmani, who had resigned late last month citing personal reasons, Mr Khan said: “I think it is a challenging job and I wouldn’t be looking at the state of affairs in a biased and partisan way.”

Mr Khan takes over the charge at a very difficult phase in the history of the airline with most of its planes banned from flying to countries in the European Union, annual losses running as high as Rs13.1 billion and current liabilities exceeding its assets by some Rs25 billion.

He is being termed as the ‘make or break chairman’ by the airline staff as they look towards him keeping their fingers crossed. Mr Khan had the distinction of being the first non- broker/non-member chairman of Karachi Stock Exchange and had started corporatisation and reform of the stock exchange. He has also served Engro Chemical as president and was the chairman of PTCL at the time of its privatisation, something which could evoke interest among circles looking for clues to the possible sell-off of the airline.

He acknowledges that lack of aviation experience may prove a handicap for him. “Rather in a more positive tone I would say aviation experience could have been advantageous for me.” It should be recalled that former defence secretary Lt-Gen (retired) Tariq Wasim Ghazi had reportedly sent a note to the prime minister saying: “Being highly technical and complex, their (Pakistan International Airlines Corporation and Civil Aviation Authority) top managements should have adequate experience, knowledge and expertise to lead these organisations.”

The new chairman, who would be taking charge of his assignment sometime next week, said he would get on with the job assessing the situation, meeting people and understanding the issues.

The immediate challenge before Mr Khan would be getting the EU ban lifted, which would be coming up for review by European Commission in May-June. So far little has been done to rectify EU concerns except for leasing more aircraft to enable the airline continue its operations.