Experienced Aviation Experts Should Select CEO PIA

Experienced Aviation Experts Should Select CEO PIA

Current Aviation Decisions Not As Per International Standards

July 2, 2013: Joint Action Committee of PIA Employees (JACPIAE) has urged the government to include former Managing Directors of glorious days of the national airline in the selection committee to find commercial aviation qualified person, capable of turning the airline around.

While demanding so, the committee stated that it is the duty of the new government to ensure transparency in every public sector organization which is the key for revival. 

It is imperative the statement said, that the board or committee finalising the appointment should not have any vested interest or even a business interest with PIA, the fact that Prime Minister does have an owner of a private airline close to him raises eyebrows as private airlines have benefitted the most from PIA’s downfall.

A spokesman for JACPIAE said that it is worth adding here that the government has reportedly shortlisted five people for the slot of new MD PIA, but sadly none of them is expert on commercial aviation and this will not bode well for the airline at the time when its fleet is depleting fast as only 22 aircraft are operational currently.

JACPIAE said the decisions regarding PIA taken by the government, such as taxation on free tickets and pilots’ flying allowance and targeted audit of PIA Pilots, do not conform with the international practice in aviation sector, he mentioned. The decisions show that the people surrounding the decision makers don’t want the revival of the national airline and industrial peace.

The Joint Action Committee (JACPIAE) came hard on the government’s decision of taxing the entitled perks and facilities of the employees of the national airline by including these in their income.

The government has irrationally announced taxing the allowances and other benefits of the PIA employees under the heading “Perquisite of free or concessional passage”.

The concession given to employees states “The perquisite of free or concessional passage provided by transporters including airlines to its employees (including the members of their households and dependants) was exempted from the salary income vide Finance Act 2005.” But the government has announced withdrawing this exemption.

JACPIAE stated that most of airline employees have failed to understand what has happened to them. ‘There are employees whose annual salary is even below the initial tax slab but the tickets (offered to them as any other airline employees from any other country), will move them upwards into the tax slab as the amount of the ‘free tickets’ they will get will count towards their annual income.’

He further said after this taxation, traveling on a free ticket will become a nightmare for employees as huge tax will be imposed even if the airline employee avail a  free ticket to perform Umrah. He was of the view that low income employees only avail this facility to visit their hometowns once in a long time because they cannot afford frequent costly visits.

In this backdrop, he said that working in aviation industry is a tough task therefore perks such as free tickets is an international practice. Moreover he said, the tickets which are earned through hard work are subject to the passenger load on the particular flight, often PIA employees are offloaded from flights in case a revenue passenger walks in at the last moment. He said as a matter of fact in general PIA employees could be seen at Jeddah Airport waiting for 2-3 days to get a seat back home.

JACPIAE said that the impact of this decision will be devastating and termed it an act of betrayal with the hardworking low cadre employees and the employees of national flag carrier will fight for their rights at every forum.

Similarly, the statement said that the tax on pilots flying allowance is an ill advised measure of increasing revenue, this meagre amount for the Govt will cause experienced pilots of 20-24 years of service to quit PIA and join foreign carriers inflicting huge blow to national flag carrier.

The statement further said that targeting pilots for an audit is also signaling that people calling the shots are trying to fuel the situation and have ulterior motives. It is time the Govt should put its foot down and ensure improvement in the financial and operational condition of PIA.