The Minister for Aviation Division Ghulam Sarwar Khan, on Friday, informed the Senate that Pakistan International Airlines’ (PIA) losses have surged to Rs. 416 billion. He was responding to questions raised by the senators. It is important to note that PIA has not submitted its financial record due to non-availability of data for the past few quarters.
Earlier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has claimed that it has come out of losses at the operational level after quite a long time as its revenues slightly exceeded the operating cost in the quarter ended March 31, 2019. But many observers raised eyebrows over this statement which was not based on factual data as there is no data available to make such a claim.
If the airline has indeed achieved this milestone than why it is not releasing its financials for the public? On top of that, the previous management of Musharraf Rasool Cyan plugged most of the holes by shutting down the routes that were bleeding the airline revenues. PIA saved billions by just shutting down New York flights.
It will be interesting to see how the current management’s expansion takes a toll on the revenue as the airline is launching routes lefts right and centre. It is also feared that Pakistani rupees sharp decline against the dollar will deepen the financial crises of PIA as most of the payments are done in dollars.