The rise and fall of PIA; Has Imran Khan taken the right step?

[GlobalVillageSpace]

Global Village Space |

The following is the tale of how Pakistan International Airlines or PIA, a pioneer in the world of aviation, went from being a valuable asset for Pakistan to becoming nothing more than a scrapyard of the industry; the rot can wholly be attributed to political interference and a lack of professionalism.

The golden era started soon after independence

Mirza Ahmad Isphahani, a businessman from Chittagong, Bangladesh was the founder of Orient Airways. He was asked by Muhammad Ali Jinnah to convert the Orient Airways into a state carrier. Hence, PIA was founded under Quaid-e-Azam’s initiative, and Mirza Isphahani became the first Chairman of PIA. This was a project that started in 1946, a year before the genesis of Pakistan.

Jinnah’s talent for anticipation and prescience was so vast that he felt the need for an airline for a separate country even when Pakistan itself had not become a reality. In the start, PIA was revered to an extent unimaginable nowadays. That reverence and respect was earned by the tireless effort of the PIA team. An example was Abdullah Baig, a pilot at PIA, who set a new world record for the fastest flight from London to Karachi which was clocked at an astounding of 6 hours and 43 minutes.

PIA was also the sole non-communist airline of its time that was allowed to freely fly in the communist airspace of China. Via Russia, PIA also catered to people in Europe and Asia. PIA was the pioneer of introducing ‘inflight entertainment’ in an airplane; this shows how PIA really set the standards for modern-day airlines.

Only Pakistan International Airlines can be credited for helping Pakistan’s culture spread, across international borders, to areas far and remote.

Things start to take a bad turn at PIA
It was not long before the legacy of the airline king went toppling down. The situation got so worse that Pakistan started to incur losses worth a Rs. 100 million on a daily basis – accounting for a yearly loss of around Rs. 36 billion.
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The rise and fall of PIA; Has Imran Khan taken the right step?

 

[fitpOsitive]

Considering the case of PIA in isolation will be a great mistake.
The condition of PIA is an extension of overall downfall in our society.
We need a leader, who have eyes that can see through. Who really can do social engineering.
Factors that are contributing in over all decline of society, will take PIA down, no matter how good you plan for PIA.
From education system, to clerical staff. From food authorities to consulates, everything in Pakistan needs a social surgery.

@GlobalVillageSpace

 

[jericho]

"If the statement of Mr. Ghulam Sarwar announcing about 40% of pilots having dubious licenses besmirched the airline’s reputation, then doesn’t the step of grounding them all restore the confidence of the world in PIA? Does this not mean that Pakistan will not put anyone’s life in danger? "
https://www.globalvillagespace.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-pia-has-imran-khan-taken-the-right-step/

Agree with the above. Exposing the dirt was necessary

 

[PradoTLC]

PIA should just close shop... they are a complete disgrace.

fire all of them... let them apply to international airlines see if they can even get jobs of a toilet cleaner.

 

[Myth_buster_1]

PIA should just close shop... they are a complete disgrace.

fire all of them... let them apply to international airlines see if they can even get jobs of toilet cleaner.

toilet cleaners have higher standard of qualification then PIA employees.

 

[HAIDER]

PIA is badly abused. Govt should dissolved and start new airline. All pilots should be taken from PAF academy and have tough exams. No unions any type , pilots or labor unions. Otherwise PIA will be remain hijacked by corrupt politicians and unions.

 

[ziaulislam]

PIA is badly abused. Govt should dissolved and start new airline. All pilots should be taken from PAF academy and have tough exams. No unions any type , pilots or labor unions. Otherwise, PIA will be remain hijacked by corrupt politicians and unions.

sir..hold it..no this will not work
why..because it was done before and it didnt work..
in 1990s and tan in 2000s golden handshake was given these employees fired (with full package) ..
what happened next? people choose PPPP and PML n back into power and than retrospectively employed all these people ..


so what's the solution?
do nothing..unless the people geet better PIA or pakistan has no hope going forward

toilet cleaners have higher standard of qualification then PIA employees.

those people were brought in by people who were voted in power and are praised by PhD scholars

 

[HAIDER]

sir..hold it..no this will not work
why..because it was done before and it didnt work..
in 1990s and tan in 2000s golden handshake was given these employees fired (with full package) ..
what happened next? people choose PPPP and PML n back into power and than retrospectively employed all these people ..


so what's the solution?
do nothing..unless the people geet better PIA or pakistan has no hope going forward


those people were brought in by people who were voted in power and are praised by PhD scholars

Dissolve the PIA, only solution or privatize . Because then will again in power and abuse it.

 

[jupiter2007]

Dissolve the PIA, only solution or privatize . Because then will again in power and abuse it.

Pakistani politicians don’t have balls to shutdown or sell/privatize PIA.
If government does shutdown PIA, is there another private airline that can manage/take over PIA routes?

 

[Imran Khan]

those whom dont know PIA's main loss is debt payments of 3bn . even every employ go home every airplane parked or sale out this loss will not stop . so ether gov do something for PIA debt or forget to fix it .

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2220153/2-pia-retires-rs19b-debt-one-year

 

[ziaulislam]

Dissolve the PIA, only solution or privatize . Because then will again in power and abuse it.

they will undissolved it lol...
What will u use in time of need for special flights ?

those whom dont know PIA's main loss is debt payments of 3bn . even every employ go home every airplane parked or sale out this loss will not stop . so ether gov do something for PIA debt or forget to fix it .

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2220153/2-pia-retires-rs19b-debt-one-year

And where did the debt came from

 

[Bouncer]

PIA is badly abused. Govt should dissolved and start new airline. All pilots should be taken from PAF academy and have tough exams. No unions any type , pilots or labor unions. Otherwise PIA will be remain hijacked by corrupt politicians and unions.

A lot of pilots are retired AF. So won't make any difference unless this culture of apathy and corruption is not fixed. And its not going to get fixed in our public sector organizations. There are very few countries in the world where public sector organizations work.

Dissolve the PIA, only solution or privatize . Because then will again in power and abuse it.

Privatize it. That is the only solution. Even if Gov has to pay someone from its pockets to convince reputed companies to take management stake of 26%. This is the only way out. Otherwise we will keep spending billions year after year. Steel mills, railways, DISCOs. All of them. And no none of these corrupt rotten inefficient organizations are national assets. These are national burdens sucking 1000s of billions PKR per year that could be spent on deserving sectors like education, health and defense.

Anyone old enough to remember the days when you had to approach a DC or MNA to get a landline connection from PTCL? It was the same rotten structure with politically appointed blood sucking leeches at every level back then. Musharaf privatized it and now PTCL makes tens of billions for the Gov per year. Plus the service is magnitudes better. Same thing needs to happen with every single one of these state owned companies.

 

[PradoTLC]

toilet cleaners have higher standard of qualification then PIA employees.

I agree!

 

[Imran Khan]

they will undissolved it lol...
What will u use in time of need for special flights ?

And where did the debt came from

from losses and payments of aircrafts mostly .
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2026266/2-pia-suffers-rs1-8tr-loss-past-11-years

 

[PradoTLC]

Dissolve the PIA, only solution or privatize . Because then will again in power and abuse it.

Correct

every penny wasted on PIA could have been used for social welfare like a schools , hospitals etc

Yes some die hard fans will say PIA was a wonder kid a 100 Years ago....

No body cares...

remember Commodore 64 computers ?
GE household products
MG cars
PAN American Airlines
Sony
etc


All were great products and services once services once upon a time.you don’t see national government bankrupting it’s self so save them ?

only in Pakistan !

their time is over so is PIA. Curse the people who run this entity.... they should all be sacked yes even a handful of “good” ones left. They are not with the trouble and expense.

some people have said Imran khan is screw-ing Pakistan image with this fake pilot story being exposed. Those are just ignorant gullu Butt clowns ... many foreigners while horrified, at the same time passed the comment at least they are cleaning the trash and not hiding it.