ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee on Wednesday was informed that Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIAC) suffered a loss of Rs22 billion due to the prolonged grounding of its aircraft.

Officials from the Auditor General’s Office informed the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that PIA aircraft spent an extended period in routine maintenance, ranging from 44 to 239 days, resulting in substantial losses in 2022.

One aircraft was grounded for 652 days, officials revealed while discussing the Aviation Division’s audit objections for the year 2023-24.

The audit department was of the view that, due to the management’s negligence, extended delays occurred, resulting in unjustified operational and financial losses of Rs21.82 billion.

Similarly, PIA incurred further losses of Rs8.6 billion due to the failure to dispose of spare parts or retired aircraft. The audit observed that the management held an inventory of spare parts from retired aircraft valued at Rs8.566 billion for the period 2015–2021, which had not been disposed of in violation of rules. The spares included parts from 747, 707, Cessna, SA-310, and WB-737 aircraft.

The audit observed that the failure to dispose of spare parts reflected negligence and inefficiency.

In addition to losing Rs2.61 billion due to the non-implementation of board of directors’ directives regarding properties, and another Rs1.669 billion due to irregular payments made without validation by the user department, PIA also suffered a loss of Rs0.112 billion from the irregular procurement of stores and spares.

In 2022, the audit pointed out that PIA management had procured various items amounting to Rs0.112 billion without observing Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules and through non-prequalified vendors.

In response to these objections raised by the Auditor General’s Office, officials from the Ministry of Defence said that aircraft were grounded due to restrictions following the Covid pandemic. The grounding also became necessary due to global supply chain issues. They attributed it to structural repairs, financial constraints, and payment issues that affected the ability to conduct timely maintenance and repairs.

“The delays in the roll-out of these aircraft were caused by unscheduled repairs in the fuselage structure. Structural repairs are both unforeseen and require additional time and materials,” the defence ministry said, adding that leases on these aircraft were also reduced to a minimum.

Likewise, the defence ministry said that parts worth Rs3.8 billion had already been disposed of and the remaining parts would be sold according to procedure. The meeting was also informed that the spare parts would be acquired by the bidders who purchased PIA.

The Defence Ministry said that the procurement of parts became necessary to keep operations running. “Mission/flight-critical equipment, which was highly expensive and specified by the original equipment manufacturers (OEM), was essential,” said a senior official from the defence ministry.

Several other audit objections were referred to the Departmental Accounts Committee (DAC) to handle fact-finding inquiries.