Pakistan International Airlines Corp is seeking to cut as many as 3,500 jobs in a year as the government tries to turn around the loss-making national flag-carrier, even after violent protests earlier this year against such attempts.
The cuts would be made in different phases during next 12 months, Raheel Ahmed, executive director of the airline’s human resource department, told reporters in Dubai yesterday. The government majority-owned airline will be turned into four separate business units, he said. Later, Danyal Gilani, the company’s Karachi-based spokesman, denied Ahmed’s
comments.
“It may be noted that rightsizing is desperately needed in PIA and the management is working on the feasibility of various possible models to revive the airline,” Gilani said in an e-mailed statement. “It is too early to comment on any figure or give any time-frame in this regard.”
Any such move is expected to attract a strong outcry from staff, who number about 17,000 and have previously protested any job cuts as the government attempted to partially privatise the entity. The management of the airline is trying to turn around PIA, which has been hobbled by the frequent labour strife and hasn’t made an annual profit in the past decade.
The sale of a 26% stake in the national carrier was stalled by violent protests and strikes in February. The government owns a 92% stake in PIA and the employees own 3.9%. The airline’s employees also have the backing of political parties including the main opposition Pakistan People’s Party, which has long been warning of political agitation against any such move.
Pakistan’s Privatisation Commission and PIA’s management are in the process of splitting the airline into core and non-core businesses to attract buyers and may offer the chairman or chief executive officer’s post in each unit to investors, Privatisation Minister Mohammad Zubair, who is also the commission’s chairman, said in an interview yesterday in Islamabad.
The airline is also evaluating orders for Boeing Co and Airbus Group planes and is mulling the 777X, A330s and A350s, Ahmed said, adding that PIA is considering both sale-leaseback and dry lease options.
Pakistan’s Privatisation Commission and Pakistan International Airlines’ management are in the process of splitting the airline into core and non-core businesses to attract buyers and may offer the chairman or chief executive officer’s post in each unit to investors, Privatisation Minister Mohammad Zubair, who is also the commission’s chairman, said in an interview yesterday in Islamabad.
