As the restructuring of the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) is moving further. The aviation regulator has launched an exercise that is widely viewed as an attempt to pave the way for downsizing, Dawn Newspaper reported. While the CAA is not on the list of organisations or institutions up for privatisation the impending downsizing has gripped thousands of employees of CAA.
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According to the news report senior “CAA officials were informed on Sept 6 through a letter, that a “sub-committee has been constituted for Rationalisation of Manpower” and it was “deliberating on rationalisation of manpower for all the directorates” at the CAA headquarters “including their respective manpower deployed at locations and headquarters”.
The newspaper goes on to claim that the subcommittee was tasked with identifying “surplus” staff in all branches of the authority as a first step towards downsizing in the name of rightsizing.
Prime Minister Imran Khan on 15 July approved a plan presented by Secretary Aviation Shahrukh Nusrat, who is also the Director-General of CAA. You can read more about this in our detailed story here.
Interestingly the bifurcation plan is being implemented in the name of meeting the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) requirements. Dawn claims through sources that the bifurcation plan was being executed in a secret manner and the real stakeholders, including the associations of officers and employees, had not been taken into confidence.
As per information available, 70 per cent of the CAA’s income came from its regulatory function that is air traffic control, licensing, airworthiness, flight standard, etc. Which had just 30 per cent of the total CAA staff, while the airport services with 70 per cent of the total CAA staff contributed 30 per cent in the total income? This clearly indicates that the axe of “rightsizing” is likely to fall on the employees associated with the airport services, according to them.
PM Imran Khan had already approved the proposed organogram of the Airport Services of Pakistan to be led by a chairman who would be assisted by a chief executive officer and three chief operating officers. The airport services would be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan as the owner of 43 airports in the country as per plan.
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