Top5 Secret Points Of PIA That Expose It’s Journey From Success To Failure

There was a time when the ruler of Dubai had sought help from PIA while establishing Emirates Airlines and now it is the time when Pakistan International Airlines is forced to beg for its existence. It was so important that Muhammad Ali Jinnah had laid the foundation of PIA even before the formation of Pakistan. What did the First Lady of USA say while hugging the Captain of PIA, after which the success of this airline went out of control. Other international airlines were also so impressed with PIA that they used to send their crew to PIA’s training center for training.

To be honest, the success of PIA is so much that it is very difficult to count them on fingers. But despite all this, what happened that today PIA has been giving losses continuously for the last 20 years. The situation has come to such a point that an offer of only 350 million dollars has been made to buy it. That is, the amount of money that Emirates Airlines earns in just two days. We will try to know some things related to PIA in today’s article. So let’s began.

5) Establishment

Pakistan International Airlines was actually started during the British India era. When Pakistan did not exist. On 23 October 1946, Muhammad Ali Jinnah registered an airline named Orient Airways in Kolkata with the help of some businessmen. It was the first airline in British India whose owners were Muslims. After the partition, the operations of Orient Airways were transferred to Pakistan. In 1955, the airline was named Pakistan International Airlines as the national carrier.

4) Success

PIA started international flights in the very first year. In which flights started from Karachi to Cairo and Rome via London. It became the first airline in Asia to use Lockheed Constellation and the second airline in Asia to use jet aircraft. Not only this, but despite being a non-communist airline, PIA also became the first airline to fly to China. Despite the wars and the country’s economic problems, this airline kept growing and every six minutes one of its planes was landing or taking off somewhere in different parts of the world.

PIA soon started working as a profit-making machine for Pakistan. In a short time, PIA got recognition as a successful airline with a great slogan ‘Great People To Fly With’. After that, an incident happened which made the name of PIA famous all over the world. In 1962, USA’s First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy visited Pakistan. For her return journey, she chose PIA. When the flight landed at London’s Heathrow Airport, the First Lady hugged the PIA captain and repeated the slogan ‘Great People To Fly With’.

The words that came out of the mouth of the First Lady made not only PIA but also Pakistan famous in the eyes of the world. After that, many famous personalities of the world turned to Pakistan. This includes the visit of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia in 1966 and Shah Mohammad Raza Pahlavi of Iran with his wife in 1967. This was the golden era of PIA when Karachi was considered the hub of aviation. At that time, PIA also built a training center for ground training in Karachi. Where not only PIA but crews of many western airlines also came to take professional training. As days passed, PIA started progressing.

3) Cabin Crew

When people from outside used to travel in PIA, they did not get off the flight without meeting the cabin crew. If we talk about air hostesses, PIA had such air hostesses who were no less than Hollywood stars. Especially the face of Miss Momi Gul Durrani is still considered one of the historical faces of aviation. The boys and girls of PIA flight crew looked no less than film stars. They used to become the center of people’s attention in international airports and hotel lobbies. All of them were well educated, well groomed and professionally trained. They presented a great image of PIA.

Once the general manager of a five star hotel near the pyramid made a special request that PIA crew members be shifted to his hotel Meena House. So that his hotel could also get glamour. After a few years, Air India, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways and Malaysia Airlines also followed PIA and brought a national touch to their uniforms. In this way PIA became a trend setter in the aviation industry of Asia. Because other airlines were now copying it.

2) Achievement

PIA’s achievements are so many that it is very difficult to count them on fingers. Some of the achievements of PIA are given below.

a) PIA was the first airline to introduce Boeing jets in Asia.
b) Despite being non-communist, it landed in China and used another route to reach China. Which passes over the Karakoram range.
c) PIA also introduced the auto ticketing system for the first time.
d) Flights to Europe were operated via Moscow, the Soviet Union of that time.
e) PIA was the first non-European airline to land in Norway.
f) PIA is counted among those airlines that introduced the in-flight entertainment system in 1960.

1) Failure

Till now the MD of PIA was an experienced aviation expert Irfan Ahmed. He left no stone unturned to make PIA famous with his ability. Till now the management of PIA was in the hands of experienced people. But in 1971, the management of PIA was handed over to Air Vice Marshal Zafar Chaudhary and he was made the MD of the airline. This work was done by none other than the then Chief Martial Law Administrator General Yahya Khan.

Only a few months had passed since Air Vice Marshal Zafar Chaudhary took over the post of MD of PIA, when he fired more than half of the employees of PIA and sold many aircraft. Of course, this step was taken to get the country out of the deep loss after the Indo-Pak War of 1971. But this decision started a series of challenges one after the other for PIA in the coming years.

The staff who were fired were the hard core workers of PIA. Whose hard work had brought the airline to this position. Selling the aircraft meant that now PIA would not be able to reach those international destinations like earlier a plane used to land or take off somewhere after every 6 minutes.

After this incident, nationalization was another blow to PIA in 1972. As soon as the civilian government came in 1972, Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto completely nationalized PIA. That means now it came completely under the control of the government. Earlier when PIA was shifted from Kolkata to Pakistan in 1955, at that time the Government of Pakistan had shares in it but the private sector was also involved in it. After nationalization, recruitment started in PIA. That means people started getting jobs on the basis of choice and not on the basis of talent.

Such people came into the management who took such decisions which were good for politics. But they had no connection with business at all. New employees were hired not for work but to gain political benefits. Due to this the burden of paying salaries on PIA increased further. Whereas no steps were taken to improve the planes and routes for which PIA was famous earlier. The civilian government had just completed 5 years when once again in 1977 martial law was imposed in Pakistan.

As soon as General Ziaul Haq came, he took control of the country and appointed people of his choice in the national department. In 1980, once again Air Vice Marshal Zafar Chaudhary was made the MD of PIA. The same Zafar Chaudhary who had sold PIA planes in 1971 and fired half the workers. So this time also he took some decisions which became the target of a lot of criticism. The biggest decision in which was to lease the plane to Emirates Airlines. The success of PIA was already down. The routes had reduced and the planes were old and were in need of maintenance.

Zafar Chaudhary leased two planes of PIA to the ruler of Dubai. Who was starting Emirates Airlines at that time. That is, the planes along with the crew were rented out. This decision had a short term benefit for PIA but a long term loss. In the short term, some money was received from Dubai. But later Dubai launched its own airline and took over all the routes of PIA. That is, the routes on which PIA used to earn, Emirates Airlines started earning.

Now it was decided to buy four new Boeing 747 aircrafts for PIA by taking a loan. At that time, the management of PIA was not capable of handling them. But there was not so much demand for Pakistani passengers, that too in the presence of an airline like Emirates. Hence, more than half the planes started going empty. Due to which PIA incurred loss instead of profit on every flight. Due to the incompetent people present in PIA, many cases of corruption and mismanagement came to light, due to which PIA was closed in many places.

PIA which should have become a relief for the people, due to wrong decisions and personal benefits of a few people, it became a burden on the people and a burden on the neck of the Government of Pakistan. The situation reached such a point that in 2018 the government decided to sell it. But this decision also failed. Experts say that considering the amount of debt on PIA, it would be better if PIA is sold even for free.