Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar — Photo by APP

ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar admitted in the Senate on Monday that Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was in a very bad shape but said honest collective efforts, not his resignation, would restore its health. “I am ready to resign if that alone can improve the situation in PIA. Let me go as I have not been living on my salary as federal minister,” he said, implicitly accepting the criticism that the airline was in precarious health because it was overstaffed with workers recruited without merit.

But he said that since 2008 PIA had suffered a loss of Rs34 billion because of devaluation of the rupee.

During a debate on a motion moved by Col (retd) Tahir Hussain Mashhadi of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) seeking discussion on PIA’s performance, a number of opposition senators demanded resignation of the minister if he could not run the PIA efficiently.

Winding up the debate, Chuadhry Mukhtar said a restructuring plan had been sent to the finance ministry for approval and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had constituted a committee to suggest measures for improvement.He said his ministry had time and again sought financial help from the government, but had received only Rs3 billion in four years.

He disclosed that the present management had been paying a huge amount in interest on loans taken by the previous military government. “Despite running in loss, PIA is still functioning,” he said.

The minister admitted that there had been overstaffing and said the airline’s engineering section had 7,000 employees against a requirement of 3,000.

He, however, claimed that only replacements, and no recruitment, had been made over the past year.Responding to an allegation levelled by PML-N’s Mushahidullah Khan that a deputy managing director of the PIA was living in Dubai with family and drawing a salary of $30,000, the minister said the person who he had experience of 29 years in the American Airlines was drawing only $10,000 per month.

The minister said the situation could be improved if the airline was allowed to lease new aircraft. He said that he had been trying to get the permission.

The minister claimed that whenever his ministry took any decision to improve the financial affairs of the airline, it had to face criticism not only from the staff, particularly the union, but also from political parties.

He said when the ministry planned to sign an agreement with the Turkish Airline, the issue was politicised. Whenever an effort was made to obtain aircraft on lease, it faced opposition from pilots.

Chudhry Mukhtar said most successful foreign airlines, like the Emirates, had contracted out services like catering and maintenance of aircraft to the private sector whereas in PIA all this was being done by its own staff.

He said a constant increase in prices of petroleum products was also a major cause of the losses.

The minister assured the house that he would take up complaints about misbehaviour by PIA staff, particularly with elected representatives.

A number of senators severely criticised the performance of PIA and termed it a result of “mismanagement by non-professional staff and out of merit appointments”.

Mr Mashhadi said that in the last decade PIA was technically more efficient than Gulf Air, Qatar Airways and Emirates Airline, but now it was suffering a huge loss. He said PIA’s deficit was increasing because of political interference. He said the airline had a fleet of more than 20-year-old aircraft which consumed more fuel.

PML-Q’s Tariq Azim said there were 2,600 ghost employees in PIA.

ANP’s Haji Adeel said a mafia working in PIA needed to be sternly dealt with.

Mushahidullah Khan alleged that PIA’s managing director was not qualified to head an airline and he had been given the post only because of his personal association with President Asif Ali Zardari. He accused the PPP government of recruiting party workers in the airline.

He also criticised the policy of appointing pilots to head the airline. “Pilots can fly aircraft but they cannot run an airline,” he said.

Most of the opposition senators said corruption and lack of accountability were major causes of the losses.

Prof Ibrahim and Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri demanded fresh elections due to destruction of institutions like railways, PIA and Pakistan Steel Mills. They said the government was not capable of resolving the issues.