Pakistan International Airline (PIA) manages to reduce its loss of Rs67.32 billion to Rs34.64 billion in a span of three years.
In an address to the Senate on Friday, Pakistan’s Minister for Aviation Division Ghulam Sarwar Khan told the upper house that the government had significantly reduced the PIA’s huge financial losses which had been passed on to the government.
While answering questions, the minister said that PIA had incurred losses amounting to Rs 67.32 billion back in 2018 and that the government had been able to reduce it to Rs 52.60 billion and Rs 34.64 billion in the years 2019 and 2020 respectively.
He added that the decision to close down a number of commercially unfeasible domestic as well as international routes had been a major contributor to the reduction of losses.
When questioned about the PIA flights facing restrictions imposed by various European nations, the aviation minister responded that the concerns of those European countries had been addressed and they were awaiting the arrival of the audit team to assess the conditions in the country. He said that they were hopeful for a positive outcome and the lifting of those restrictions within this year.
He said that the Hyderabad Airport was operational and was capable of handling aircraft up to ATR-42 in response to a question about the Airport.
Earlier this year, Pakistan Businesses Forum (PBF) Vice President Ahmad Jawad commented that the national airline was Pakistan’s pride and it owned assets worth billions which is why it was fully capable of recovering from the incurred losses through an effective business strategy.
He added, “The PIA management is expected to acquire new long-range aircraft following the introduction of new routes therefore, the airline will become profitable in future,”.
The Economic Coordination Committee (CCI) of the Cabinet agreed to provide around Rs44bn to the national airline. The supplementary grants were issued during the first quarter of 2021.
PIA reported huge losses, which exceeded Rs 51 billion, in its 2017 end of year report. The national airline’s aggregate deficit had surpassed Rs 437 billion in 2018, all the while it was the company was under a crushing debt worth a whopping Rs 288 billion.
