DOWNFALL OF PIA DUE

TO ITS STAFF

Group Members:
 Maryam Mukhtar
 Noreen Akhtar
 Gohar Yaqoob
 Maryam Javaid
 Minahil Waseem
Add title page and then Table of contents
Executive Summary

Pakistan International Airline (PIA) providing services in 27 countries was known all over the
world for its excellent performance and superior quality. That was the golden period for PIA. But
now it has lost his luster. There are a number of problems faced by PIA which are a hindrance in
its way to success. The major problems include increase in oil prices, problems related to staff,
devaluation of local currency, political interference, weak financial position, corruption, poor
performance, debts, external pressure, lack of budge and lack of technology. The problem we are
focusing on is the staff of PIA. The employees have become the reason of the downfall of
Pakistan International Airline which must be stopped before they hijack it. The staff of PIA is
corrupt and bribed. They are untrained and appointed below merit. They are ignorant of their
responsibilities and oversee their duties. Non deserving candidates are hired on the command of
leading personalities eventually destructive for the airline. In this report we have tried to ponder
over the unlawful and immoral activities done by the staff members which are responsible for the
collapse of Pakistan International Airline. Action against such employees must be taken so that
PIA can be saved from more damage and loss of its passengers. PIA needs some hard decisions
by the administration to run the system smoothly.
Pakistan International Airline

Pakistan International Airline less formally known as PIA is the national flag carrier and a state-
owned enterprise of the Government of Pakistan. Headquartered at Jinnah International
Airport in Karachi  it operates scheduled services to 24 domestic destinations and 38
international destinations in 27 countries across Asia, Europe and North America. Its main bases
are at Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad/Rawalpindi.
The airline's secondary bases include Peshawar, Faisalabad, Quetta, Sialkot and Multan, from
which it connects the metropolitan cities with the main bases, the Middle East, Europe, and
the Far East. It is primarily owned by the Government of Pakistan and is regulated by the
Ministry of Defence as an autonomous body.

Mission Statement
PIA Corporation has stated its mission statement as
“A symbol of national pride, aspired to be an airline of choice, operating profitably on modern
commercial concepts and capable of competing with the best in the International as well as
Domestic markets”.

Structure
Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIAC) is majority owned by the Government of
Pakistan (87%) while the remainder (13%) by private shareholders. The airline is under the
administration of Ministry of Defence. The airline is managed by managing director who leads
the executive management of staff who run the airline and by the Board of Directors. The Board
consists of nine independent non-executive members and has four sub-committees.

Jinnah International Airport

SWOT ANALYSIS

Problems faced by PIA

PIA is facing serious problems. It is now just like a white elephant. There are a number of
problems which are a hindrance in its way to success. The major problems faced by PIA are

 Increase in oil prices

 Problems related to staff
 Devaluation of local currency
 Political interference
 Weak financial position
 Corruption
 Poor performance
 Debts
  External pressure
 Lack of budget
 Lack of technology

. Government of Pakistan is taking steps towards the restoration of Pakistan International

Airlines. They are trying to work on its financial conditions and poor performance but the issue
where their attention is lacking is the staff of Pakistan International Airlines. The employees and
staff are neither honest in their duties nor with PIA. PIA was known all over the world for its
excellent performance and superior quality. That was the golden period for PIA. But now it has
lost his luster.
The problem we are focusing on is the staff of PIA. How the employees have become the reason
of the downfall of Pakistan International Airlines is the major problem and is explained in this
report.

Staff of PIA

Pakistan International Airline is a big organization with more than 22000 employees. Without
the employee’s performance PIA cannot achieve their goals and mission. It is very important for
them to get the finest from their employees but unfortunately reality is different. The staff of PIA
has indulged itself in wrong means of earning other than fixed for them. The staff is involved in
corruption. Overstaffing is again another issue resulting in collapse of the airline. The untrained
staff is creating a lot of problems for PIA directly and indirectly through many ways which they
have adopted and Government has failed in stopping them. Some of the harsh realities and
corrupt doings of the staff of Pakistan International Airline are as follows.

Overstaffing
Pakistan International Airline has over 22000 employees enjoying 450 staff per aircraft.
According to government declared facts and figures 497 persons are working against one aircraft
in PIA and the carrier is overstaffing. Staff expenditure was the largest single cost of Pakistan
International Airlines and increased from Rs 4.167 billion to Rs 8.467 billion. The financial
health of PIA cannot be improved without tackling the problem of over-staffing which has
literally plagued the organization.
The issue of overstaffing is created by PIA. According to international standard 150-225 people
are for one plane while PIA enjoys 500 employees approximately per aircraft. It is overpopulated
and needs to cut its coat according to its cloth. It needs some hard decisions by the administration
to run the system smoothly.
Appointments due to Political interference
The trend has been witnessed over the years, of making recommendations for appointments in
the PIA by the politicians and other well-connected and influential people. Lamenting lack of
discipline, inefficiency and mismanagement currently being observed at the PIA and termed it a
logical consequence of years of ‘Sifarish culture’ prevailing in the country. It is necessary to
tackle with such happenings seriously to minimize the losses. It is time to bring professionalism
into the organization before it is too late. Non deserving candidates are hired on the command of
leading personalities eventually destructive for the airline.

Corrupt staff
The staff of PIA has often been witnessed in corruption. The staff which is hired for passengers
to make sure that their journey becomes smooth and comfortable has involved itself in illegal
and prohibited actions which bother the passengers. In the recent past PIA staff refused boarding
cards to about 63 passengers on Kuala Lumpur-bound PIA flight causing loss of Rs 3 to 4
million to airlines for the reason that passengers refused to pay staff Rs. 1000 per head as illegal
gratification at Allama Iqbal International Airport.
Sources disclosed that during five years CBA union appointed its officials in passengers
handling section that earned a lot by loading excess baggage of passengers on flights and caused
huge losses to the airlines. Charges of excess baggage were not recorded and deposited in
airlines account. These officials deposited less than Rs5 million every month in PIA account. But
now after their transfer and deploying new ones in concerned section, per month revenue has
crossed Rs12 million which reflects that more than Rs 7 million were being embezzled in just
one section every month. An officer of PIA seeking anonymity said that from the day the CBA
came into power this practice was continued and above mentioned statistics were of Lahore
station only. Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar and other international airports of the country were
apart from this.

Untrained staff
A large number of staff members of Pakistan International Airline are inexperienced and non-
expert. They do not know how to work efficiently and effectively, this is the reason we see long
passport immigration lines. Often announcements could be heard asking passengers for their
flight to board the aircraft and they are still in line. It takes two hours or more than this to clear
regular security. The staff is not given proper training which ultimately bothers people.
Passengers often are seen waiting for their luggage for hours. The staff of PIA often harasses
passengers even if their bag was even a kilogram over the limit. The airline officials are not even
trained enough to deal in a polite way and behave mannerly. Staff has no ability of resolving
issues and satisfying passengers
Below merit appointed staff and pilots
PIA has hired the staff which has neither the required qualifications nor the skills needed.
Employees that have not even done matriculation have been given the important duties at the
airports. This leaves a bad impact on foreigners also. Many airline officials have been appointed
on the recommendations of influential people but on merit. There are no strict criteria or policy
of hiring staff in PIA. The story does not end here; the airline has some pilots that were declared
inexperienced and their qualifications not eligible for the posts. Recently PIA has sacked three of
its pilots after discovering they had faked their qualifications. The sacked pilots had flown
thousands of hours for the airline including time spent flying government officials. One had
recorded 25 years’ service.
PIA is a bleeding organization and needs to get rid of fake degree holders and incompetent and
corrupt officials.

Language barrier
Some of the untrained and less educated staff members even do not know the simple sentences of
English language to communicate with the passengers and the worst of all is that some are
surprisingly unable to speak in Urdu also. This kind of staff is responsible for the bad response
that people give after they have been treated by them. This is another reason why people are
switching to other airlines ultimately damaging Pakistan International Airline. Steps should be
taken against this until it becomes too late and we lose it.

Blackmailing
Staff of PIA pressurizes government for accomplishment of their desires. They blackmail the
authorized persons for their demands to be fulfilled. They do not see their limitations and protest
for their demands. Often they are seen protesting at the airports while the flights are in process.
Protesting for rights is justifiable but blackmailing by stopping work and bothering passengers is
not at all right. It gives a bad impression of PIA all over the world.

Behavior of Air Hostesses

The air hostesses appointed are ill mannered and have rough behavior. They are rude with the
passengers. This untrained female staff usually oversees their duties and are non-cooperative to
passengers. They are meant to be polite and obliging but unfortunately reality is different. Many
instances of their rude behavior were spotted and were brought on screen by media. The bad
experiences of passengers compel them to switch to other airlines. Action against such hostesses
should be taken so that it does not happen again in future.

All the immoral and unlawful conducts of the employees and staff of PIA are accountable for the
demise and downfall of the airline. The staff of Pakistan International Airline is giving tough
time to the officials and bothering general public as well.

Lack of expertise
PIA lacks skillful and expertise in its departments like financial, marketing, human resource and
research and development. Absence of skillful staff members leads to poor management and
performance. Recently some of the new planes have been added in the airline but due to lack of
professionals they are just lined up with others in stores.
 CONCLUSION
Pakistan international airline is no doubt in crises. There is need of a plan that help them out to
overcome problems it is facing to regain its fascination back. PIA is getting down by the poor
performance by its staff and other variable issues. It cannot be on the way to success until its
employees give their best and work enthusiastically and devotedly for the organization. Well
trained, honest, qualified and skillful staff members who are the basic unit can take PIA back to
the heights it had in the past. It needs to get rid of incompetent and corrupt officials. PIA needs
some hard decisions by the administration to run the system smoothly. We hope that in the next
few years Pakistan International Airline will show up with a positive change.
These are for presentation and bibliography.

http://www.slideshare.net/fahaducp/pia-project

http://www.slideshare.net/tosif399/case-study-of-pakistan-international-airlinepia-downfalls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaVUWuAK9mY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LobtJrW2Yno (see it)

while making slides make a chart showing just these points of following table which are safety,
reliability, social responsibility and customer expectation (rating only not scores) . It is just for
presentation.
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