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Renewed hope for PIA

Hampered in breaching a phalanx of protective personal staff, media becomes a good means of individual communication, stonewalling has become a PIA art finessed by experienced professionals at our version of “spin control”.

The NATION on Oct 2, 1990 requested in an article entitled “PIA IN LIMBO” that a suitable aviation professional be selected to become the MD in place of Arif Abbasi in case his return was not feasible. It could hardly be expected that Air Marshal Farooq Feroze Khan, who was already Chairman, would do anything meaningful in his dual role as MD in the few months remaining, to quote “after all, the present MD may go back to the PAF within a few months,” unquote. Five months later, Air Marshal Farooq Feroze Khan has gone back to the PAF as Chief of Air Staff (CAS), leaving behind a “manageable loss” of Rs.2300 million (Rs.2.3 billion). The Air Force seems to be a genius at euphemisms, after all the Allied air attacks on targets in Iraq only caused “collateral damage” in the deaths and injuries to thousands of civilians! Instead of a “manageable loss”, we would rather have been satisfied by a “meagre profit”, the least one could expect from PIA’s monopoly situation.

The powers-that-be have partly listened to the arguments in “A CASE FOR MORE AIRLINES” THE NATION April 25, 1989 when it was suggested to “let the Chairman be from the PAF, but day to day overseeing of management functions must be given to long-term PIA employees who have shown effective management capacity and dedication to their jobs.”

 Tiwana comes to the top executive post in PIA (incidentally he is also acting Chairman), with plenty of excess baggage of yesteryear eating into PIA’s revenues. Nawaz Tiwana was Director Customer Services during a time when after removal of surplus employees from PIA by Martial Law edict in 1983, Customer Services had vastly improved. He can well appreciate that PIA presently gives abominable services to customers. On a recent flight to Colombo on 5 March, 1991, a request for water was ignored in Business Class for almost one and a half hours till the Cabin Crew, having finished their own meals, were ready to serve us our meals. Some items ran short even though the Business Class was half empty because of a number of “doggie-bags”. The senior pilot on board, who was probably a “Check Pilot”, stretched out on two seats at 1630 hrs and continued to snore till shortly before the meals were served. One flight does not reflect the performance of many dedicated PIA personnel in many other flights on many other routes particularly the excellent cockpit crew, but it does reflect that a deep malaise exists in PIA that does not take into consideration the comfort of passengers in supersession of their own comforts. No airline in the World, including Third World airlines, would have either the cockpit and/or cabin crew behaving in such a couldn’t-care-less (CCL) manner. PIA should not get the reputation of being called CCL Airlines.

PIA has been (and continues to be) a national asset, the Corporate standards have once upon a time been singularly above par. Tiwana would do well to start his reforms, if he wants to do them that is, by wielding a sharp scalpel among his DMDs, Director and GMs. No tears would be shed if some of these characters, tainted by corruption charges of finagling in aircraft deals, procurement kick-backs, inefficient performances, etc are sent to pasture as soon as possible. Mr. Tiwana’s acid test will be to rid himself of the great yoke of surplus manpower, if he can manage to do that the rest should be relatively easy. Reduced such overheads, Tiwana’s priorities should be to remove Services like Cleaning and Maintenance, Transport, Security, Catering, etc out of the present in-house capacity into “contracted services” where performance will be related to reward, inferior quality will render contracts to be terminated. This can be done in stages so that PIA’s recurring expenditures on manpower during and post-employment is substantially reduced.

The Government of Pakistan (GoP) will have had the benefit of Presentations made by different aspirants for private airlines. GoP would do well to give permission to at least three out of the 16 aspirants, letting the dynamics of market forces dictate who will remain the survivors. No restrictions should be put on those selected on the domestic sector. Let them set any rates for their tickets, whether it be Rs.30 for Karachi-Islamabad or Rs.3000, that should be the discretion of the private sector. It stands to reason that in order to survive they must set realistic rates, even if these are competitive with PIA. Some sectors are such that private sector may not like to operate on these routes. Wherever the private sector does not fly for commercial reasons, PIA must be compensated for the socio-economic service on such routes by the Government through an agreed formula.

Allowing private airlines to set their own ticket prices may cause PIA’s domestic passenger revenues to drop substantially. In order to compete, PIA will have to cut its own ticket rates, this they cannot do without shedding overheads, increasing efficiency and improving quality of service. One final eventuality may be to divide PIA into two companies, (1) domestic and (2) foreign, once the private airlines are operating, then close down the domestic operations, thereby technically declaring a partial lock-out, allowing staff to be legally retrenched. The new airlines in the private sector need staff for their operations across the whole spectrum, a fair amount of personnel from PIA can be absorbed by them, the balance will have to improve their efficiency and quality of service in all sectors, especially passenger comfort if PIA has to remain alive as an economic proposition.

Even in First and Business Sections, the cabin crew is unfailingly rude, courtesy previously a PIA by word even in the Economy Class. The situation is going from bad to worse except in very exceptional cases, the cabin crew has generally developed an aggressive attitude towards passengers. It can be believed that some passengers’ behaviour can be quite aggravating, particularly those who are either (1) new to airline travel or worse (2) seem to think that along with the ticket they have bought the airline and the staff. The common, average passenger is mainly interested in getting from Point A to B (1) without any hassle (2) being treated with courtesy (3) with due comfort (4) arriving on time (5) without losing baggage and early delivery from conveyor belt and (6) in relative safety and security. However, horror cases in one or the other of the six aforementioned points abound in plenty daily.

From being a corporate entity where good performances are rewarded and admonishments are given for less, PIA has degenerated into a den of chronic, cronyism. PIA’s Chairmen and MDs have been using non-aviation personnel to carry out their bidding in a manner that is quasi-legal at best. From a known zamindar family and wearing a public school tie, Tiwana will be closely monitored for nepotism and favouritism though one must confess that this is a self-defeating measure since in his background circle one may have a sizeable percentage of “Above Average” aviation professionals. In this respect one must make mention of the example set by Brig Niazi of Defence Housing Authority (DHA). The man is so honest and upright that he has developed a known reputation for taking very tough decisions without fear or suspicion of vested interest. Initially there may have been misapprehensions and skepticism about his grandiose plans for DHA, its conversion in three years into a model city for Pakistan is an outstanding symbol that integrity along with objective purpose does pay. Nawaz Tiwana would do well to emulate this example. If Tiwana can take his decisions on merit, without fear of partiality or interest, as a professional should do, PIA will come good.

Arif Abbasi was an outstanding aviation professional, on pure experience alone Tiwana comes out slightly better in comparison. Both are PIA’s own home-bred executives, with deep knowledge of the various departments in PIA, and “hands on” experience, sadly lacking in journeymen who came in for short durations. An excellent comparison in the characters of both these confident and intelligent executives would be that Arif Abbasi, despite being steeped in dealing with precise matters in PIA’s Management Information Systems (MIS), which he led for some time, was more instinctive and gregarious, while Tiwana comes across as more taciturn, with modicum of greater maturity. Arif would deal with situations with greater flamboyance, Tiwana has been respected as a professional who gets a job done in a less electric atmosphere. Both had the potential of contributing to the Airline as Chief Operating Officers, Arif has had his chance, Tiwana has his opportunity now. Arif Abbasi was very unlucky to run afoul of the system shortly before the system itself ran into trouble, Tiwana starts in less trying circumstances but with PIA in far worse shape than when Arif Abbasi took over. One hopes that Air Marshal Farooq Feroze Khan can be as lucky for PAF as he has been for himself in PIA, the “manageable loss” of Rs.2.3 billion (or US$ 100 million) notwithstanding.

Tiwana comes to the CEO’s job with a lot of goodwill to back up his professionalism. Individual personalities change with the top job, he will do well if he can maintain his normal style. If he decides to go into the ivory tower in the manner that a Flight Pursar in PIA cocoons himself in, what to talk to Directors and GMs, then we are going to be treated to more of the same PIA “hospitality” and “service” that we have now to endure because we have no choice. The same cannot be expected from Tiwana, in that faith lies the essence of renewed hope for PIA. Tiwana takes over as PIA’s MD at an interesting crossroads for the airline industry in Pakistan, his success will be directly proportioned to his ability to take advantage of the situation to make PIA lean, service-oriented and thus profitable.

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