The PIA Story – Excellence Resilient over Nepotism
(This is the SECOND and CONCLUDING article of the national airline)
That PIA has survived the likes of Asif Zardari is a story of excellence being resilient enough to withstand the vagaries of nepotism and corruption. Throughout PIA’s history many opportunists and self-seekers have undermined its efficiency and credibility but no one ever mounted such a sustained assault on the structure of the organization as Zardari did, he ruined the rest of the country in the same very unique manner.
PIA’s strong points are its pilots and engineering staff, despite the skepticism of many one may also make the same comment about the core of a very dedicated management cadre, at least for the most part. Which other commercial airline in the world flies such an old fleet of Boeing 747’s and Fokker-27s in such a cost effective and safe manner? Both aircraft have more than outlived their commercial utility by at least a decade if not more. This displays a tremendous inherent self-confidence within PIA’s staff about their own and each other’s abilities, that potential is a corporate asset of tremendous value. Barring a few black sheep among the cockpit crew as well as ground and flight engineers, the rating mark as to the performance of the vast majority is well above average. Some of the cockpit crew have unfortunately been politicized and since they frequently fly those who matter, a few also consider themselves “armchair experts” on geo-political and economic affairs, they should concentrate on improving their own professionalism and stay away from politics or enter politics full-time as a profession. Hopefully we will keep politicians and intellectuals from trying to learn how to fly an aircraft.
PIA’s weakest area is the cabin crew. One can travel from one place to another without seeing the cockpit crew or the ground engineering staff. One only spends a few minutes with the ground staff but almost all of the passenger’s time with the airline is spent in the aircraft with the cabin crew. In the First Class and Business Class the service may or may not be good, depending upon the Flight Pursar and the control he exercises over his staff, in the Economy Class PIA’s cabin crew, some of the female staff, invariably treat passengers with a distinct air of contempt and disdain. Simply put, they have a severe “attitude problem” that is so bad they need psychological help. It is true that the quality of passengers on certain routes like Saudi Arabia and UAE does put enormous pressure on them, particularly on the female staff, why does PIA not use male stewards to make up the majority of the cabin crew on such designated routes ? Part of the problem of their complex stems from a bunch of PPP Ministers and bigwigs specializing in air-hostesses, in one case former MD PIA Farooq Umer had to back down when he grounded a stewardess who turned up late on a flight on which he was travelling, she whipped out a mobile phone and acquired instant help from her ministerial mentor. Since a few of such females make it on such “connections”, they do not take kindly to discipline — or disciplining. In spite of the fact that the numbers represent a minority, the ambience they create for PIA is adverse. PIA must re-think its policy about its female cabin crew, maybe even seriously contemplate the stopping of all fresh recruitment, obtain women power on temporary basis from private service companies that have trained staff. In many airlines, even one serious passenger complaint about behaviour means immediate termination, “grounding” is the minimum punishment. Unless PIA puts it “high-flying females” back on the ground where they belong, this significant minority is going to continue to give PIA a bad name along with commensurate bad service and the airline will continue to have a less than savoury commercial reputation.
What PIA needs above all is “route rationalization”. Given that PIA has three types of routes viz (1) to fly some on domestic one due to socio-economic reasons (2) captive routes on which our expatriates invariably travel and (3) viable commercial routes on which Pakistanis travel constantly but on which it has to compete with other airlines for business. Based on such an evaluation, PIA must convert its own offices abroad to GSAs, i.e make a direct link between ticket sales with incentives thereof. While PIA must have offices on routes where they operate or are captive markets such as Jeddah, Riyadh, Dubai and on frequently travelled routes, such as Bangkok, Nairobi, Dhaka, Sri Lanka, London, Frankfurt and New York, etc but why in the world do we need offices, particularly off-line ones, in places where there is no real PIA profit consequence? Route rationalization will lead to correct fleet planning. At best this has been simplistic. It does not follow that because PIA has 747s they should have more 747s. A proper study of “revenue” passengers, repeat “revenue” passengers will show that the seat utilization on any particular route should dictate the capacity of aircraft required. While 747s do go full to New York and London during the peak season, how many of them are “revenue” passengers? And why should peak season (3-4 months in a year) dictate the size of the aircraft to buy? It would do the airline some good to carry out a detailed survey of the travels of its many Directors and GMs for the last 3 years to see how many of them and their families travelled to London, Singapore, Bangkok and Jeddah (for Umra), both “officially” and “unofficially” as non-revenue passengers. Frankly this facility has been abused badly and in comparison the other routes and cities have been neglected. Fleet Planning must take into account the requirement for “revenue passengers” and not simply try to compete with other airlines as to type of aircraft.
There are “mafias” in every PIA department, all of them take advantage of the turnaround in politics to further their own nest eggs. For example, the flight schedulers plan the rosters so that “favourite” cockpit and cabin crew get maximum “layovers”, this extra expense is at the cost of the airline. For example, there is so much corruption in the purchase of stores and food items it defies description. For example, most officials travelling to London and New York, whether on business or pleasure, attempt to live on PIA’s expense in one way or the other. This continues into the practice of disbursement of advertising and purchase of computers, etc. One extremely honest Director Inspection was forced to take a “golden handshake” offer as soon as he started finding discrepancies across the broad spectrum of PIA. Unless a dedicated task force carries out constant monitoring, the pilferage and leakage of revenues will continue. In this respect ticket sales and revenues thereof need to be kept in check.
All is not gloom and doom in the Airline! From time to time, PIA does something brilliant and effective which is glossed over in all quarters. PIA’s Roosevelt Hotel in New York is a case in point. This was a unique real estate deal in which the hotel would have reverted to the original owner if PIA failed to upkeep the premises as a hotel. On the other hand, PIA has an option to purchase it at what will be relatively a throwaway price after a number of years, making almost US$ 300 million on the deal if all goes well. A prestige location, next to the Grand Central Station, this was almost made into a “cash cow” by the last regime, to be slaughtered. It has had an amazing turnaround because of first class renovation. Dedicated executives in PIA Investments like Aslam R Khan and Safdar Rizvi have ensured that PIA stands not only to gain profits but revenues. In the face of the worst kind of unionism by New Yorkers they have completely refurbished the hotel and made it a jewel in PIA’s crown. Safdar Rizvi in particular has to be lauded for he was the pointman in sourcing credit, establishing protocol for the project, overseeing the renovation and trouble-shooting, both at home and abroad. Frankly PIA should be proud of this “above and beyond the call of duty” effort made by a handful of executives, a similar “hands on” effort is required at PIA HQs.
PIA needs to downsize fairly immediately. Instead of sending people home with a “golden handshake”, at least 25% can be sent off on their accrued leave. A fairly large number of Directors and GMs are slated to retire almost simultaneously, this will be a tremendous boon to the airline. Similarly the airline needs to freeze all intakes except for cockpit crew and ground engineering staff, services like security, cleaning, catering etc need to be farmed out to the private sector so as to get better efficiency at lower overheads. PIA must be made lean and efficient, without reduction in manpower no amount of induction of aircraft will translate into profits. At the same time PIA must take a hard look at cargo as a solid business to offset passenger revenues, it is a shame that other airlines are running frequent cargo flights in and out of Pakistan, at the cost of PIA’s revenue.
One of PIA’s main problems is the politically appointed Board of Directors whose total input is to get together for tea (or lunch) from time to time and sign on the dotted line whatever figures are trotted out by PIA’s financial “spin doctor’s” before them. If the PM is really serious about revamping the airline, he must give MNA Shahid Khaqan Abbasi adequate real-time real-life support by corporate professionals with experience in planning, cost-cutting and manpower handling. Shahid, who is one of the finest MNAs that we have, must take into consideration their views in his attempts to reform PIA. Regretfully at the moment Shahid seems to have got into the clutches of a few rascals. The easiest way to lose sight of both vision and objectives is to allow the PR department to run wild in creating unnecessary self-publicity. For third world countries, the national airline is always a potent symbol of success or failure far in excess of its corporate size and as such requires professional attention and not half-baked ideas rendered by motivated people interested only in their own individual, selfish agendas. If PIA is again to become “great people to fly with”, its people must wake up to the reality that in the competitive commercial aviation sector, efficiency and profits cannot go hand in hand with nepotism and overstaffing. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has to establish an oasis of merit where fairplay and performance are the only criteria and witch-hunting is a non-starter. His primary task must be to address the flagging morale of the rank and file. Without the touchstone of even-handedness, no amount of motivation will succeed. Without the rank and file wholly heart and soul behind the changes, no change can be meaningful. PIA is today at the same crossroads as the nation, reform or perish!
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