ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday constituted a special committee to investigate the sudden start and culmination of Pakistan International Airlines’ (PIA) Premier Service.

The committee headed by Senator Sherry Rehman will conduct a special audit of the said service and will submit its report to the PAC.

Senator Rehman has raised the issue before the committee, saying that last year the national flag carrier had started the premier service which was winded up mysteriously.

“We do not know about the expenses incurred and what the PIA earned from the service,” she said and suggested the formation of a committee for a special audit and probing the matter.

Lawmakers criticise sale of plane for Rs7 million to German museum, saying one cannot even purchase a luxury car with this amount

PAC chairperson Khursheed Shah endorsed the suggestion and constituted a special committee which will comprise of PAC members and officials from the auditor general office.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had on August 14 last year inaugurated PIA’s premier service with the hope that the initiative might revive the lost glory of the national flag carrier.

The ex prime minister’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz also tweeted photographs of the service and highlighted its salient features in her tweets.

The service offered a free limousine service for business class passengers from London’s Heathrow Airport. Six flights per week from both Islamabad and Lahore were initially introduced with the premium service which included better meals and extended flight entertainment.

In March this year, the department reportedly presented performance details before the lower house of parliament according to which, the premier service earned Rs1.8 billion in the first quarter against a spending of Rs3.9 billion. The service was closed down quietly in the subsequent month.

‘Missing’ aircraft

Senator Rehman asked CAA and PIA officials about the circumstances in which an aircraft was moved to Malta for filming a movie and how it ended up in a German museum.

The PIA authorities said the aircraft was grounded but was sold without mandatory approval of the board. Khursheed Shah said this is the first case that the PAC has referred to the newly appointed National Accountability Bureau (NAB), retired Justice Javed Iqbal.

According to CAA documents, the flight-worthy plane was sold to a German museum for 57,000 Euros only. Lawmakers said this equals about Rs7 million and that one cannot even purchase a luxury car for this amount in Pakistan.

CAA officials told the committee that this did not include the price of the engine and that efforts are being made to bring the engine back, which will be auctioned in accordance with the set procedure.

Members of the committee said the engine may not be easy to retrieve and that the German company may also demand a parking fee.

Outsourcing of airports

Secretary Aviation Division Irfan Ilahi told the PAC that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is not going to outsource the airports of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad since the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) also opposed the outsourcing of some vital services to private parties.

He said that the National Aviation Policy allowed CAA to outsource certain services and the authority had invited bids from the interested parties.

Mr Ilahi said that since PAF also utilizes CAA’s facilities at some airports, it therefore opposed the outsourcing of services related to air traffic control and flight operations.

CAA employees had challenged the outsourcing in the Islamabad and Lahore high courts.

Mr Ilahi said the CAA had then decided to issue a licence for private operators to operate the car parking, restaurants and identical facilities.

He said interested companies include Vinci of France, HNA of China and Turkish TAV and that the licence would be awarded one of them.

He assured the PAC there will be no downsizing in the CAA’s strength despite the handing over of certain services to private parties and surplus staff will be either posted at the new Islamabad airport or their services will be utilised by private contractors.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2017