For a while, I was truly puzzled as the news seemed unreal. The value wrecking dinosaur that the Pakistan Steel Mill (PSM) became had just been given a well-deserved rebuke by having almost 8,000 employees terminated! Initially, I dismissed it as yet another cruel joke on this hapless nation. Then, I awaited the proverbial u-turn, a manoeuver the government is so accomplished at. Now, it has been several days, including the usual naysaying clamour in parliament but unbelievably, the government, for once, seems to be clear. To bolster its resolve, the PSM decision was followed within a day by accounts of the other dinosaurs in the room. Together, these state owned enterprises had apparently plundered more national wealth than the biggest, albeit for some, arguably tolerable monster of all: the defence budget.
The government has not only seen one of the bloodsucking monsters in the room full of so many, but appear determined to get rid of it once and for all. I, like many salaried tax-payers, am suddenly transformed from having abandoned all hope of any rational decisions, to hoping that all the blood sucking monsters, i.e. SOEs kicked out of our system forever. Does taking one of these evil specimens by the horns and tossing it away enable one to grab all of them and be done in one fell swoop, or a few swoops if that? Of all these destroyers of national wealth, there is one whose time should have come ages ago, but that somehow seems to malinger amid shambolic ideas and decision-making. The only thing not shambolic and murky about it is the extent of just how terrible it is in all possible organizational measures, leading, lagging, financial, non-financial, ethical etc. I refer to the once vaunted airline, Pakistan International.
PIA’s financials, even if dressed up with the very best of deceptive sauces and garnishes are nothing but pure disaster. Over Rs482 billion in the red and forever plunging further into the abyss of organizational nothingness, now is the best time to finally rid the exchequer of this bloodsucker. Its epic financial disaster is matched if not exceeded today by its shamefully murderous safety record. Two calamitous events, one attributed to Divine Will and the other perhaps to more human actions, must surely convince and compel the government to seize the moment and put this utter waste to rest. Both the corona virus impact on airlines and the avoidable crash of PK 8303 must surely be clear signals to do what various governments have desisted far too long from doing. I have listened first-hand to the unbelievable accounts of utter incompetence, apathy, shamelessness and disgusting conduct that the families of the crash victims had to go through right from the moment they first faced PIA staff at Karachi airport till today in some cases. The clueless and absurd statements by the Air Marshal only epitomized the ruinous airline he heads. His views reeked two cancers that have wrecked many an institution: arrogance and ignorance. If, as in case of the aftermath of the Air Blue Flight 202 crash, some wounded souls decide to take on this travesty of an airline to a proper court, as they must, I earnestly hope that its gaping financial wounds will only herald a quicker death than otherwise.
For me, as a passenger, starting with a flight mess in 1982 until today, there has never been a single PIA flight in which something comically incompetent or much worse did not occur. This included the collapsed landing gear of the aircraft supposed to pick us from Dubai after we had been stranded over 24 hours due to the ubiquitous technical defects which enable PIA aircraft to earn their infamy. Long after it became financial rubbish, I would tell people that the only thing left of PIA was the courtesy of its singularly untrained but eager to please staff. On my last PIA flight (yes, I avoid it as much as I can) over two years ago, I unsurprisingly confronted an inept counter person who insisted for over half an hour that no return was booked for me though the ticket clearly said so. I only breathed a sigh of relief when his senior, summoned at my urging, with just a few clicks showed him where my booking lay in the system. Calmly, I told her that she was the ‘aakhree satoon’ of the airline. Then, walking across to an imposing looking captain standing in the check-in area I advised him to ‘baita aap abhee javaan hain, koee achhee airline join kar lein’ (you are still young, you can join a better airline).
The crash of PK 8303 and the gut wrenching tales of sheer apathy and contempt for human suffering that have surfaced involve not only PIA but the highest in the land. But the aftermath of the crash only confirms that the very last vestige of PIA staff decency has also gone out the window and nothing but rank apathy and incompetence remains. At the funeral of two of the victims, the PIA representatives could not offer much more than their disgusting apathy by taking their masks off just so they could show their idiotic faces on the television cameras in attendance. Yet, my interest here is only to try and stress that as this last vestige of organizational decency seems to have withered too, there is not even a modicum of hope to keep it afloat.
Several studies and analyses have all pointed to one result. This terrible bloodsucker, in more ways than one, must be swatted dead as soon as possible. Any resurrection a la the Swissair model or numerous others available can then be dispassionately considered and implemented thoughtfully. PIA, ruthlessly trimmed of any and all incompetent and avaricious staff still may be able to survive through its attractive routes such as London and Toronto direct but the staffing should begin afresh with only limited service in mind. The PSM staff seems to each be walking away with about Rs5 million plus if the numbers in the press are correct. If we double this for PIA, we might be looking at about Rs100 billion. In my opinion this would be money well spent as PIA careens madly down the path of utter ruin. The lives saved by terminating its flying murderous coffins cannot be measured in rupees. The only critical step is that the government muster the sort of courage it has somehow done in the PSM case and just take the first step. Many of the numerous options discussed over the years about what to do next with this diseased carcass masquerading as a warm body can then be considered. I avoid discussing these options here because they have all been thoroughly vetted by many experts and only a lack of will has kept one or another from being implemented. PIA is the perfect dinosaur to first send to oblivion and then the other ruinous SOEs can follow.
It is hoped that both for the sake of the hapless taxpayer of his benighted land and for the safety of future customers of PIA, the government will act with alacrity and determination and stop this rotting carcass from causing more than just further stench.
The writer is an academic and management consultant with an abiding interest in safety and value addition.
The government has not only seen one of the bloodsucking monsters in the room full of so many, but appear determined to get rid of it once and for all. I, like many salaried tax-payers, am suddenly transformed from having abandoned all hope of any rational decisions, to hoping that all the blood sucking monsters, i.e. SOEs kicked out of our system forever. Does taking one of these evil specimens by the horns and tossing it away enable one to grab all of them and be done in one fell swoop, or a few swoops if that? Of all these destroyers of national wealth, there is one whose time should have come ages ago, but that somehow seems to malinger amid shambolic ideas and decision-making. The only thing not shambolic and murky about it is the extent of just how terrible it is in all possible organizational measures, leading, lagging, financial, non-financial, ethical etc. I refer to the once vaunted airline, Pakistan International.
The aftermath of the crash only confirms that the very last vestige of PIA staff decency has also gone out the window and nothing but rank apathy and incompetence remains
PIA’s financials, even if dressed up with the very best of deceptive sauces and garnishes are nothing but pure disaster. Over Rs482 billion in the red and forever plunging further into the abyss of organizational nothingness, now is the best time to finally rid the exchequer of this bloodsucker. Its epic financial disaster is matched if not exceeded today by its shamefully murderous safety record. Two calamitous events, one attributed to Divine Will and the other perhaps to more human actions, must surely convince and compel the government to seize the moment and put this utter waste to rest. Both the corona virus impact on airlines and the avoidable crash of PK 8303 must surely be clear signals to do what various governments have desisted far too long from doing. I have listened first-hand to the unbelievable accounts of utter incompetence, apathy, shamelessness and disgusting conduct that the families of the crash victims had to go through right from the moment they first faced PIA staff at Karachi airport till today in some cases. The clueless and absurd statements by the Air Marshal only epitomized the ruinous airline he heads. His views reeked two cancers that have wrecked many an institution: arrogance and ignorance. If, as in case of the aftermath of the Air Blue Flight 202 crash, some wounded souls decide to take on this travesty of an airline to a proper court, as they must, I earnestly hope that its gaping financial wounds will only herald a quicker death than otherwise.
For me, as a passenger, starting with a flight mess in 1982 until today, there has never been a single PIA flight in which something comically incompetent or much worse did not occur. This included the collapsed landing gear of the aircraft supposed to pick us from Dubai after we had been stranded over 24 hours due to the ubiquitous technical defects which enable PIA aircraft to earn their infamy. Long after it became financial rubbish, I would tell people that the only thing left of PIA was the courtesy of its singularly untrained but eager to please staff. On my last PIA flight (yes, I avoid it as much as I can) over two years ago, I unsurprisingly confronted an inept counter person who insisted for over half an hour that no return was booked for me though the ticket clearly said so. I only breathed a sigh of relief when his senior, summoned at my urging, with just a few clicks showed him where my booking lay in the system. Calmly, I told her that she was the ‘aakhree satoon’ of the airline. Then, walking across to an imposing looking captain standing in the check-in area I advised him to ‘baita aap abhee javaan hain, koee achhee airline join kar lein’ (you are still young, you can join a better airline).
The crash of PK 8303 and the gut wrenching tales of sheer apathy and contempt for human suffering that have surfaced involve not only PIA but the highest in the land. But the aftermath of the crash only confirms that the very last vestige of PIA staff decency has also gone out the window and nothing but rank apathy and incompetence remains. At the funeral of two of the victims, the PIA representatives could not offer much more than their disgusting apathy by taking their masks off just so they could show their idiotic faces on the television cameras in attendance. Yet, my interest here is only to try and stress that as this last vestige of organizational decency seems to have withered too, there is not even a modicum of hope to keep it afloat.
Several studies and analyses have all pointed to one result. This terrible bloodsucker, in more ways than one, must be swatted dead as soon as possible. Any resurrection a la the Swissair model or numerous others available can then be dispassionately considered and implemented thoughtfully. PIA, ruthlessly trimmed of any and all incompetent and avaricious staff still may be able to survive through its attractive routes such as London and Toronto direct but the staffing should begin afresh with only limited service in mind. The PSM staff seems to each be walking away with about Rs5 million plus if the numbers in the press are correct. If we double this for PIA, we might be looking at about Rs100 billion. In my opinion this would be money well spent as PIA careens madly down the path of utter ruin. The lives saved by terminating its flying murderous coffins cannot be measured in rupees. The only critical step is that the government muster the sort of courage it has somehow done in the PSM case and just take the first step. Many of the numerous options discussed over the years about what to do next with this diseased carcass masquerading as a warm body can then be considered. I avoid discussing these options here because they have all been thoroughly vetted by many experts and only a lack of will has kept one or another from being implemented. PIA is the perfect dinosaur to first send to oblivion and then the other ruinous SOEs can follow.
It is hoped that both for the sake of the hapless taxpayer of his benighted land and for the safety of future customers of PIA, the government will act with alacrity and determination and stop this rotting carcass from causing more than just further stench.
The writer is an academic and management consultant with an abiding interest in safety and value addition.