NOTHING good is emerging out of Pakistan International Airline (PIA). The national flag carrier, which once was considered as the pride of the country, is now only bringing embarrassment and bad name at the international level.
As the suspension of PIA’s flights to Europe was not enough in the wake of dubious license issue of pilots, now one of the aircraft of PIA has been seized at the Kuala Lumpur airport by the Malaysian authorities over the non-payment of lease dues to a Vietnamese company. As per the details, the leasing company had filed a case against PIA in a UK court in October 2020 for its failure to pay the leasing fee, worth about $14 million, which had been pending for a period of six months. In response, the PIA had maintained that since the COVID-19 pandemic has seriously affected the aviation industry, there should be a reduction in the overhead charges. In the meanwhile, the leasing company kept an eye on the activities of PIA, and as soon as it received the information of Boeing-777 scheduled landing in Malaysia, it appealed to the Malaysian court to seize the aircraft as per the international civil aviation leasing laws. In the first place, the lease payment should not have been delayed under any circumstances but if it happened because of some reason, the PIA authorities should have used some brain by not allowing the aircraft involved in court case to fly abroad. The plane could have been used for domestic operation. Indeed Pakistan has excellent relations with Malaysia and it should take up the matter diplomatically with it to get the aircraft back. But in the current situation, the PIA should clear all the dues to avoid any further embarrassment for the country. The latest incident really depicts the irresponsible attitude and maladministration within the national flag carrier. There is a dire need to put the PIA’s house in order whilst showing the doors to those who are not taking their job seriously. Professional and competent people should be inducted in the airline on merit to bring improvement in the working of the PIA, otherwise, Malaysia like episode, would continue to occur in future as well.
