ISLAMABAD, Aug 24: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has called for professionalism in the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) which continues to be mired in financial woes.

Speaking at a meeting on PIA affairs, he urged its management to uphold merit and adopt the best practices prevalent in the aviation industry and also to benchmark its performance with competing airlines to improve its serviceability and profitability.

There was little improvement in the deteriorating financial condition of the airline during the last quarter, the meeting was informed.

A source said the losses being suffered by the airline, according to the figures shared at the meeting, continued to be in the vicinity of Rs1 billion per month despite a nominal reduction of 2 per cent.

The airline would be officially releasing the results for the last financial quarter after the board of directors’ meeting on August 30.

The national flag carrier had posted Rs 3.95 billion losses during the first quarter ending March 2007.

PIA officials at the meeting, the source said, once again held high oil prices for their failure to cut the losses as they ‘reiterated their resolve to make the airline profitable’ through route rationalization, revenue management and financial restructuring.