A report by the Auditor General of Pakistan has revealed that delays in routine aircraft maintenance cost PIA - Pakistan International Airlines (PK, Islamabad International) more than PKR38 billion rupees (USD134 million) in 2021.
The Express Tribune newspaper reported that the document, recently submitted to Pakistan's parliament, details significant challenges within PIA's engineering and maintenance units and cites specific examples of the time these units took to perform relatively straightforward maintenance, repairs, and inspections, including taking:
- 520 days to undertake maintenance of a B777-300ER registered as AP-BID (msn 33780);
- 250 days to undertake maintenance of a B777-200ER registered as AP-BMG (msn 32716);
- 905 days to undertake maintenance on an unidentified ATR (at the time, PIA had both ATR72-500s and ATR42-500s in its fleet);
- 905 days to undertake maintenance on an unidentified A320-200; and
- 540 days to undertake maintenance on a second unidentified A320-200.
PIA's maintenance plan had allocated between 19 and 28 days to perform the necessary maintenance on each aircraft. The Auditor General determined that the five aircraft were out of service for a total of 2,991 days in 2021, costing the carrier PKR12.8 million (USD45,400) per day.
After raising the issue with PIA's management in late 2022, the auditor's office was later told that "increased cannibalisation from aircraft under heavy maintenance caused the delay in aircraft rollout."
Separately, efforts by the Pakistani government to partially privatise the loss-making flag carrier continue. PIA is one of many state-owned entities the government is keen to offload. The government has reportedly set a February 2024 deadline for its partial privatisation, to involve selling a 40% stake and management rights to a foreign entity in exchange for fresh funding. Local media reported that PIA is now barred from entering into any long-term contracts, including leasing aircraft, until the partial privatisation is completed.
The privatisation push by the government has unearthed some significant assets PIA holds in foreign jurisdictions. In addition to its well-publicised ownership of New York's Roosevelt Hotel, entities associated with the airline also own the Sofitel Le Scribe Paris Opera Hotel in that city's 9th arrondissement. PIA is also believed to retain a substantial residential property in Scarsdale, New York, reportedly acquired in 1979 as a home for the airline's then local general manager. There are also three residential properties in Amsterdam and at least one property in each of Mumbai and Tashkent, all acquired to serve as grace and favour homes for the airline's executives in those countries.
Including these properties, Pakistan's Privatisation Commission has valued PIA's assets at PKR176 billion (USD624 million). However, the carrier's debts stand at PKR742 billion (USD2.63 billion) and it is believed to be on track to post a loss of PKR112 billion (USD397 million) this calendar year.
