Pakistan International Airlines’ strong lobby of Cabin Crew has been able to halt the cost cutting process in flight operations department. An assembled Task Force had suggested many measures for cost cutting and claimed that they would reduce the airline flight operations budget by up to 30 percent.
A PIA higher official and member of Cost Cutting Task Force told ProPakistani that is has been 2 months since the cost cutting report for flight operations was sent to the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Aviation, Sardar Mehtab Khan Abbsai, for further approval but there have been no updates.
Sources blame the PML-N affiliated CBA Air League for halting the implementations suggested in the cost cutting report. “Cabin Crew is a very strong lobby in PIA and in CBA as well. They approached the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Aviation and asked him to not approve the report,” a source told ProPakistani on the condition of anonymity
The task force has suggested major changes in Cabin Crew flying, resting, relocation and other matters. If the Task Force recommendations are fully approved, they will help the airline reduce the cost of flight operations by up to 30 percent.
The task force head, Caption Amir Hashami, said that “the Cockpit crew is paid for flying but the Cabin Crew is being paid for resting.“
The report also states that the PIA is operating its aircrafts with maximum crew requirement.
“As per international standard, 8 to 10 cabin crew are deployed on a Boeing 777 compared to the current practice of 14. Shortened per flight crew strength may be incentivized by offering better allowances.”
The Task Force also observed that most of the cabin crew is living in Karachi but PIA international operations are done from Islamabad and Lahore. This is adding a huge overhead for the PIA.”
The Task Force suggests to offer better flying allowance and other incentives to them so they will not hesitate to relocate to Lahore and Islamabad.
The Task Force report also suggests reducing the hotel room occupancy by offering Cabin Crew room sharing at London, Manchester and Toronto.
