PIA is going to outsource key departments where there is potential to perform and earn by providing better services to passengers as well as other airlines.The disintegration of various departments has begun. The first department under fire is PIA catering. In the first stage, they’re looking for a strategic partner in Islamabad. An RFP (request for proposal) was floated and to our surprise, and according to various sources in PIA, the only party which qualified is an associate of Airblue.
The second stage calls for nationwide implementation of this agreement. For PIA, it means increased operational costs.
The second in line is Technical Ground Support department (TGS). The most lucrative department which has one of the highest budgets in the airline, could have been made into a business venture opportunity after acquisition of new equipment and earned a lot, but is now being made into a joint venture at Islamabad initially, and then nationwide.
Again, this only means costs will increase for PIA. The existing cost for PIA with all the leakages and obsolete equipment is much less as compared to the international standards.
All the cash earning units are being privatized for the gain of other parties.
It’s difficult to wrap your head around how this venture is going to turn PIA around because the fact that an airline which is already incurring a losses of billions a month is going to join a venture which will in turn increase operating costs meaning more additional lose for the airline.
PIA’s various bosses have been making claims for a great turnaround. But so far that has repeatedly turned out to be farce. The biggest problem with all these best laid planes is misplaced intentions. With diminishing organs of this giant establishment the chances of revival of PIA are slim. Unless these are done with a proper strategy backed by comprehensive research.
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