PIA doles out 200 free Dubai, UK tickets as ‘compensation’

E-Paper | June 14, 2026

LAHORE: In a rare precedent, the Pakistan International Airlines has given more than 200 ‘free’ round trip tickets for London and Dubai to an entertainment television and some fashion designers as ‘compensation’ for holding a runway fashion show and an awards programme for it.

According to the documents available with Dawn, the management of national flag carrier this month ‘gifted’ 20 business class round trip tickets to the fashion designers for London and as many business class return tickets for Dubai to the TV channel. Besides, around 200 economy class round trip tickets for Dubai were handed over to the channel.

Read: In fashion: Flying colours

The PIA Runway Fashion Show was held in mid of last month in Karachi where new uniform for its cabin crew and other staff was introduced.

The PIA is in the process of shortlisting the designers for making ‘new uniform’ which is part of its efforts to revive the airline.

Earlier, the PIA had given the impression that the fashion industry people and the entertainment channel had contributed to the show ‘free of cost.’

The free round trip tickets to Dubai and London have cost the PIA millions of rupees which is already in a financial mess and struggling to improve its services. This is perhaps a rare precedent in the PIA’s history to compensate an organisation or a group of people for rendering their services for it.

“I cannot say about the exact number of the round trip tickets to London and Dubai the PIA has given to an entertainment channel and the fashion designers but these have been issued to them in compensation to the PIA Runway Fashion Show and the TV Awards,” PIA spokesman Aamir Memon told Dawn.

He said not a single penny the PIA had spent for the two shows promoting the PIA products. “The tickets were part of sponsorship. In fact, we did not use cash for the two big shows which otherwise involved huge money,” he said.

A source said the PIA should have gone for ‘proper agreement’ with the management of TV channel and the fashion designers for holding the show. “This sets a bad precedence as gifting tickets to such a huge number of people is interpreted differently. If there has been an independent external audit of the financial accounts of the PIA how will the management justify this,” he asked.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2015

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Pakistan

Zulqernain Tahir is a political correspondent for Dawn with over 20 years of experience, currently covering political and governance issues with a focus on uncovering financial scams. He can be found on X at @zulqerr.

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Jawad

Apr 23, 2015 01:49pm

this is very good news

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Jawad

Apr 23, 2015 01:49pm

i love PIA i dont care what you people say PIA is the best

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Ozz

Apr 23, 2015 01:54pm

I thought it was losing money, free trips? Fashion industry? No wonder we are a wreck

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Fuad

Apr 23, 2015 02:15pm

Fashion designers would have charged and arm and a leg for creating new uniforms, had PIA opted to go the normal route. Giving away tickets as compensation was not a bad idea. Both PIA and the fashion designers got a good deal at the end of the day. Some more out of the box thinking needs to be encouraged for ventures like this design competition.

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Amin

Apr 23, 2015 02:16pm

This is what I would do if I was in PIA's management. It is financially beneficial to PIA unless the flights were fully booked and you had to turn away paying passengers ... this is not the case with PIA ... far from it actually. The cost of getting a plane up in the air is fixed with one passenger onboard or two hundered. So why not get bums on the seats as they say rather than dole out cash!

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Abdullah

Apr 23, 2015 02:22pm

The planes anyhow go empty .So there is nothing to loose.Good job PIA.

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harmony

Apr 23, 2015 02:31pm

I mostly travel in PIA , whenever i can.

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giab

Apr 23, 2015 02:42pm

They did it for to design new uniform for the staff. PIA Crew did not receive uniform from the airlines for the last 3 years. Staff managing their uniforms from their own pockets. What a shame, PIA is full of Corrupt staff and management.

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Taimur

Apr 23, 2015 02:49pm

'If there has been an independent external audit of the financial accounts of the PIA how will the management justify this.." Did they ever justify anything?

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Khalid

Apr 23, 2015 03:03pm

@Jawad Well, i am OK with you loving PIA. The problem I have is that PIA is probably one of the worst airlines in the world. PIA flies twice a week directly from Karachi to London on the other hand, Emirates flies 6 times a day to London. I know who gives me value for my hard earned money. PIA is unreliable, rubbish food, dirty toilets...I could go on.

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okies

Apr 23, 2015 03:03pm

I think its a money laundering scam! After the unceremonious closure of the Ayyan "channel', the bigwigs might want to launder a huge cache of black money all at once!

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Anoni

Apr 23, 2015 03:19pm

A source said the PIA should have gone for ‘proper agreement’ Agreed and the name of people award ticket should also be mentioned.

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Faraz Najam

Apr 23, 2015 03:40pm

@Jawad Why is PIA the best when its services are poor? Why is it the best when it wastes millions of tax payers' money every year? Open your eyes and dust off some very misplaced patriotism. The best this, the best that, when the truth is our country runs on aid and remittances. Try to fix things instead of "we are the best, I don't care" attitude.

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Amin

Apr 23, 2015 03:41pm

This is what I would do if I was in the PIA management. It makes sense to offer tickets as compensation as long as the flights are not fully booked and you are not having to turn away paying passengers. We know for various reasons PIA flights are not fully booked - actually far from it. The cost for getting a plane up in the air is largely fixed whether there is one person onboard or two hundred. So giving away tickets makes more financial sense than doling out cash which is incremental cost. On the flip side, would I be happy if I was offered a PIA ticket as compensation for services provided ... definitely not!

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saad s

Apr 23, 2015 03:43pm

the mentioned quote from "source" is very much right. PIA should have gone for proper agreement.

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KKT

Apr 23, 2015 03:48pm

PIA - The best food.

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hamid shafiq

Apr 23, 2015 04:00pm

PIA best for those people who received free tickets with out give any benefit to PIA.

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V PRAKASH

Apr 23, 2015 04:29pm

Had PIA paid fuel charges?

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Syed

Apr 23, 2015 04:34pm

Sell the PIA for God sake the public has lost enough money. The people who love PIA may have never travelled on any foreign airline. This airline doesn't have decent aircraft. Most European countries don't want PIA aircraft in their air space. PIA service is poor. They gouge the public on the domestic fares. Even now when international petroleum prices are down there has been no reduction in fares. This is not the age of national flag carriers. Many countries have gotten rid of their national airlines.

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Aaqil

Apr 23, 2015 04:34pm

How will PIA justify this free tickets issue to the auditors ? Hell with auditors. Who cares about auditors report of mismanagement or misappropriation of funds in our country ? Fraud and / or misappropriation of billions ..rather tens of billions are frequently reported in press but not a leave moves. The auditors do their job and the relevant authorities do theirs. End of story.

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Tariq, Lahore

Apr 23, 2015 04:49pm

While PIA is financially strapped it's not a bad idea to pay in 'tickets' for services rendered in retrospect!

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Ajamal

Apr 23, 2015 05:30pm

This is better than paying cash and PIA management should be commended for compensating through tickets. This will raise the profile of PIA. Such barter are quite common in the media industry (free ads vs services / goods).

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Zahid Khan

Apr 23, 2015 06:28pm

OH...... I Love PIA for its good gesture !!!!

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mohammadali

Apr 23, 2015 06:28pm

This is an indirect barter trade. Well done PIA.

Recommend 0

Apr 23, 2015 06:29pm

Dose other Airlines operate there?

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Omar

Apr 23, 2015 07:04pm

Actually this is good management decision.Instead of doling out cash which would have cost them millions more to organize the event, ticket offer is just a token as compared to hosting and paying this mega event. Win Win for PIA and the designers.

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Shahzad

Apr 23, 2015 07:29pm

Don't worry much, nobody travel in PIA business class anyway. This way anyone will get benefits at least.

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Rabi

Apr 23, 2015 07:52pm

PIA is a liability and PMLN using it as its private airline.

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j saifee

Apr 23, 2015 08:12pm

I don't know when will our media stop criticizing. They have to say something whether you do right thing or wrong. By giving away free ticket and not dooling out hard cash management did the right thing in present circumstance I hope media improve their thinking and get the right fact out

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Khawar Nehal

Apr 23, 2015 08:31pm

Tickets cost money. So it is called barter. The company paid in tickets the equivalent in cash. The auditors shall be informed that the profit on tickets is the saved amount. Cash is cash and is more costly than an equivalent barter. Also the barter saves taxes to be paid. The auditors can see all the money saved and the taxes saved by the move. Good work. Remember to ask for feedback from the customers. Once a week the CEO should be on a flight with a notebook talking to employees and passengers so he can improve the returns. Regards, Khawar Nehal

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M.Malik

Apr 23, 2015 08:58pm

More red ink in the making...for a company which is already bleeding cash. Way to go PIA!

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Nadeem

Apr 23, 2015 09:05pm

@Jawad Really ?????????

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M.Malik

Apr 23, 2015 10:14pm

@Nadeem He probably works for PIA.

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KingofLalaland

Apr 23, 2015 10:34pm

If my memory is still sharp, exactly similar incident was reported a couple of years back wherein PIA gifted free tickets. We are just chasing our tail.

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Foreign-Palat

Apr 23, 2015 11:03pm

Those disparaging @Jawad for saying PIA is the best: Its easy to mock PIA flight service (Not talking about the business, just in-flight service), but we fail to take into account that PIA has usually the most backward passengers on its flights. The better educated, upwardly mobile folks fly Etihad, Emirates, Qatar etc etc, leaving the "social kachra" on PIA. I've been told that on flights from Pakistan to Middle East (low-income worker class) there is unimaginable filth in the bathrooms, people cut wires to TV remotes in the hope that the remote will work with their own TVs, etc etc. Flight attendants are asked the most bizarre requests, which no educated airline attendants have to face. And yet the attendants accommodate many of these requests. Plus the food is better than most airlines. FYI, I got stuck on an Air India flight from NY to London, you should see the lousy service and really bad food on that government-run airline.

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Majid Ahmed

Apr 23, 2015 11:08pm

...... and they still took emirates...

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Jalaluddin S. Hussain

Apr 24, 2015 04:42am

I pray for the long life of my national airline (PIA) and hope that the current economic difficulties will be resolved!

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Max

Apr 24, 2015 05:33am

Bankrupt airline living on Tax and aid money from Government. Like Pakistan steel mill and hundreds of other Governmental industries, this is a total flop for decades. It is time to outsource PIA to outside private agency without governmental interference, in fact out sourcing Governance of Pakistan to outside corporation will bring major economic change in Pakistan. 35 to 40 Billion Dollar Pakistan corporation can easily be run by outside corporations with Budget more than 100 Billion Dollars, they will put industries from their own resources and use Pakistan Budget more efficiently. .Time to rethink how to run Governance of Pakistan?

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Tamza

Apr 24, 2015 06:18am

@Anoni BECAUSE these MUST be treated as INCOME for tax purposes no matter where the 'awardees' are based.

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Just Someone

Apr 24, 2015 11:26am

@Fuad : I agree with you. I think this was a good deal because PIA did not spend any cash. They paid through their capacity and considering that it is not 100% utilized it was a win-win situation for both.

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Zain Hasan

Apr 25, 2015 12:00am

@Ozz PIA has clarified its position stating, “It needs to be clarified that the uniforms were designed on pro bono basis – that is, entirely free of cost – by a team of 16 fashion designers. They all offered their expertise to PIA as a gesture of goodwill and contribution towards the national carrier. It was in this very spirit that the proceedings of the fashion show were recorded and broadcast by a TV channel, again totally free of cost. It needs to be clarified that PIA and the private TV channel had separately entered into a barter arrangement under which PIA had sponsored the TV channel’s “Annual Award Show” in Dubai. The desired level of PIA branding was allowed and due endorsements were made by the channel as a routine structure of sponsorship. In return 200 PIA tickets were bartered, of which only 128 seats were utilised for the event

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