PIA Spending Obscene Money On Salaries & Perks Instead of Improving Itself

Though the financial position of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is not good, it is still spending million of dollars on the salaries, perks and privileges of its Acting Chief Executive Officer and General Manager (IT) every month .

Besides, the blue eyed officials availed many foreign tours and remained outside the country during last few months.

According to documents available, Bernd Hildenbrand, Acting Chief Executive Officer, PIACL is presently drawing a salary including perks and privileges amounting to US$ 28,660/ per month or equivalent in PAK rupees. In addition to the above, he is also drawing accommodation allowance of US$ 2,000/ per month or equivalent PAK rupees. All taxes on his salary and allowances are borne by him.

The documents further state that Chaudhry Azhar Nawaz, GM IT (now Chief Information Officer PIACL) is drawing gross salary amounting to Rs 11, 32,680/ per month, including car lease rental.

Details of foreign tours carried as claimed and settled on Travel Authorization (TA) forms by the said officers during the last six months are as under:

capture

During the tenure of present government a total number of 05 foreign staff have been hired for PIACL as under:

i. 02 Executive Officers in PIACL, Head Office, Karachi.

ii. 03 local staff at foreign stations i.e. Kuwait, Toronto and Dubai

However, the reality is that Privatization Commission (PC) is considering a proposal to divide Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIAC) into two companies – PIA-I and PIA-II – with the objective to hand over liabilities including interest payment of Rs. 180 billion loans to the government.

PIA-II would be an operational side of the national flag carrier with a clean balance sheet, while outstanding liabilities of the national airlines would be parked in PIA-I and the government would be responsible for their payment.


  • This is a completely one sided and nonsensical story. Mr Hildenbrand is a very very effective leader with vast experience at Lufthansa. He has turned around the airline and his compensation was set by the Board which consists of industry leaders such as CEO Bank Al Falah and others. This story is an affront to such leaders and completely unresearched and biased – by someone who is completely unaware of the true accomplishments of the acting CEO who has changed the airline.

      • Attach what file you nitwit?
        Clearly you haven’t travelled pia over the years.

        The domestic routes which I have travelled once a week have 90 percent on time take off and landing.

        The new premiere service I took to London from Lahore and islamabad is just outstanding. The staff on these flights are comparable to world over.

        The toilets which used to be unusable at the time previous govt and management is much cleaner.

        The airline has much more staff than it needs. This is the issue of the unions and not the managements fault at all.

      • PIA is profitable after decades of loss under him https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/134241-Hildenbrand-magic-makes-PIA-profitable

        He’s worked hard an worked well, he’s come to a foreign country where the people aren’t even the same color as him, he doesn’t speak our language, in his country minimum wage is more than 12 USD an hour. This is how much a CEO of a small company would be paid there.

        They have introduced MUCH better food, they’ve added better chairs, the experience is closer to emirates than to the old PIA now and it’s just been a few years. Just you see what he does in 10 years.

        He is airline is overstaffed which means employees that deserve more can’t get more as PIA was in loss, thanks to his cost cutting measures the people who deserve to be out are out and the people who deserve to be in are in.

        Before this I used to get a cold chicken sandwich which had no chicken, this time I got a warm lunch and my kid sister got a full proper kiddie meal. Their service is outstanding.

    • haan ab yeh bataye ga progress humain….O bhai banday hire kerne se kaam theek nahi hotaa…. mujhe dain PIA main in ko do mahenay mai set ker doon sub…..Chooor ke hath katain aur sifarshi ki zuban tau kaam sub theek ho ga

  • Compare these pays with what CEO’s earn at private sector in Pakistan and you’ll see these are nothing extravagant!

    People at this level are only limited and have good options so you need to offer then something good for them to take the job

  • These salaries are great for me and you. But compare to international market, this is nothing. I just hope this German guy bring some discipline to the airline.

    • For his country this is what the CEO of a small company would be paid, the CEO of a national airline would be making way more money. Especially one so effective.

  • Bander huth machis aye tay ooo pooray jungle nu agg la ke he chud da aiiiii.. yeh corrupt nalaiq loog hain munafiqo ke aualdain inhoon ne kia kissi iddaray ko sahi kerna hai …

  • What a biased article. The only way PIA can be revived is with professional and competent management. The gentlemen who is currently the CEO brings with him experience which most readers could not even dream of getting. Should we place Mr. Hildenbrand in MP 1 scale? PIA today is competing with the likes of Emirates, Qatar, and Etihad. Can any of the commentators on this article be assigned to turnaround PIA? If we let the gentleman continue for at least 3 years, there will be a turnaround. Emirates British CEO has been the CEO of Emirates since inception. Look where it is today and look where we are?

  • Moderator, i understand freedom of expression but journalistic responsibility demands such misleading articles be vetted.

    Writer says PIA paying “obscene” salaries to CEO and IT head. Where is the comparison with equivalent positions in private sector airlines?

    Writer says PIA paying salaries instead of “improving itself”. Who is going to bring that improvement? Senior management who drive strategy. Can you get good senior management without paying them? No

    Writer focuses on “foreign trips” of these people. What were those foreign trips for? To meet Boeing and Airbus? To meet other airlines for partnerships? To meet aircraft leasing companies? Financiers?

    Lets do some “journalism” before we choose to publish such stuff.


  • Get Alerts

    Follow ProPakistani to get latest news and updates.


    ProPakistani Community

    Join the groups below to get latest news and updates.



    >