All-out help to make PIA best airlines: PM

 

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif said on Sunday that all-out help would be extended to make the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) the best airlines.

He visited the newly-acquired A-320 aircraft by the PIA that could start the renaissanceof the national flag carrier. Nawaz expressed joy over the deal and said it was pleasing to see the new aircraft being inducted into the PIA fleet. He said with the present initiatives being taken, PIA shall soon be revived to its past glory.


Nawaz took a round of the aircraft that was parked at the Islamabad International Airport. It is the first of the 14 most sophisticated aircraft being acquired by the PIA.The French-made A-320 is the first aircraft that the PIA has acquired in 10 years as the last purchase was the wide-bodied Boeing 777 in 2004, which had ruined the economy of the airline as it wasn’t cost effective. There are allegations that the then president and prime minister got heavy commissions in that deal. The airline is still paying heavy installments of that plane.


Sources said Boeing 777 was bought against the experts advice by allegedly changing the decision of the PIA board overnight by the then president. Nawaz was greeted by the PIA employees when he arrived at the airport. Interestingly, the prime minister had approved the inclusion of 14 new aircraft into the PIA fleet.


Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Aviation Shujaat Azeem, Managing Director PIA Muhammad Junaid Yunus and Director Flight Operations PIA Captain Qasim Hayat accompanied the prime minister.


Shujaat Azeem briefed the prime minister that the airline was also in the process of inducting 14 aircraft into its fleet, including the narrow body, wide body and turbo-prop aircraft. The airline has placed an order for three A320 aircraft with GECAS of which one aircraft had been received while the remaining two will be delivered next month and in September. The remaining aircraft will be inducted in the near future.


The Airbus A320 has a seating capacity of 180. The aircraft will be in operation immediately. Visiting the aircraft, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he would like to see more Pakistanis traveling with the national flag carrier, which should be the preferred choice of passengers.

‘Taliban al-Qaeda’ claims responsibility for PIA plane attack

KHAR: A group calling itself the Taliban al-Qaeda group has claimed responsibility for the recent firing on the passenger airline in which a woman was killed.

It is the first time that any militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Pakistan International Airlines plane that was landing at the Peshawar airport after having flown from Riyadh. However, the claim lacks credibility as this little-known group has not been blamed for any attack on the security forces or government installations yet.

Talking to reporters on Thursday, the Taliban al-Qaeda group chief Yousaf Raza Mujahid said the plane was fired at to avenge the atrocities committed against the Taliban.He also claimed responsibility for the recent attacks on the security checkpost in Helmand province in Afghanistan and military base in Nuristan.

He vowed to continue struggle against the unjust system of governance and justice in Pakistan. He said that militants would convene a meeting to discuss ceasefire during Ramazan.

PIA aircraft comes under fire in Peshawar

 

PESHAWAR: A woman was killed and two persons, including a flight steward, were wounded when a passenger flight of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) came under attack while landing at the Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar on Tuesday night.
The woman passenger, who is said to be a foreigner, died of wounds en route to the Combined Military Hospital in Peshawar Cantonment, reports said.Sources said the PIA flight from Riyadh (No PK-756) wasabout to land in Peshawar when unidentified attackers opened fire on the aircraft. The bullets hit a woman, a steward and another person.

The firing panicked the passengers but the pilot safely landed the aircraft. Ambulances and security personnel encircled the parked aircraft.The wounded were taken to the CMH. The spokesman for the PIA confirmed the attack, saying that three persons had sustained injuries in the firing incident and were shifted to the CMH.

The attack was the first of its kind. There were a number of attacks on the airport in the past but it was for the first time that an aircraft was hit and its passengers were wounded.A search operation was launched in the Pishtakhara and Sarband areas after the attack while more security personnel were deployed around the airport and the airbase. While landing in Peshawar, all aircraft come close to the tribal areas and the nearby settled towns.

PIA finds degrees of 350 employees fake

KARACHI: Degrees of as many as 350 employees of the national flag carrier have been found ‘fake’. The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) have terminated services of around 300 employees with immediate effect while remaining 50 cases are subjudice and courts’ decisions are waited for further action.

Such measures were adopted in compliance with instructions of Supreme Court of Pakistan. The PIA has been vigorously pursuing the issue of credential verifications of its employees, the General Manager Public Affairs PIA Muhammad Mashhood Tajwar said on Friday.

The Human Resource Administration Department of the PIA has been performing this gigantic task of verification of credentials of around 16,000 employees. The PIA launch the process of degrees verification some six months ago (since October, 2013), he mentioned.

“So far more than 30,000 degrees have been dispatched to concerned educational institutions (universities and boards) for the verifications. Meanwhile, dispatch process of remaining 3,000 degrees will be completed by mid of April. Up till now verification of now more than 6,000 degrees have been received and out of which 350 degrees were found fake”.

The verification process is going on in a very transparent manner across the board encompassing all categories and groups of employees without any discrimination. As per instructions of Supreme Court’s instructions a prompt action was taken against the fake degree holders according to Corporation’s Rules and Regulations, he claimed.

The PIA has expedited the task of verification, however, appropriate action can only be initiated once the replies from concerned universities or examination board’s is received, he concluded.