THE reason for PIA’s losses is not the high cost of fuel. It is mismanagement and inefficiency.

Over the same period, two leading private airlines, employing mostly retired PIA personnel and operating much older aircraft, have flourished. They are paying the same price for fuel, customs duty, taxes, CAA charges, fees, etc., and operate on similar routes and in the same economic and political environment.

Not only are they earning handsome profits, they have recently added newer aircraft to their ageing fleet without any help from the government.

On a level playing field, PIA’s performance is deplorable. Instead of annual bailouts, PIA needs a surgical operation to weed out corrupt, incompetent, politically-appointed employees, and appoint a professional managing director who is either a shrewd businessman or a financial wizard.

In 1972, after losing half the country and a third of the fleet, PIA earned the highest-ever profit in its short history, thanks to the business acumen of the then managing director Rafique Saigol.

ASIF JAH Ex-Manager, Engineering Planning and Projects PIA    Karachi