Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has significantly reduced its employee to aircraft ratio thanks to the ongoing structural and organizational reforms process.
Speaking in this regard, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) PIA, Air Marshal Arshad Malik, said that the national flag carrier has brought down its employee to aircraft ratio to 260 which stood at 550 in 2017. The move will enable PIA to save more than Rs. 8 billion on its annual wage bill.
The employee to aircraft ratio of top airlines worldwide varies between 200 and 250. The addition of more aircraft in the fleet of PIA would bring down its employee to aircraft ratio to 220 this year.
Turkish Airlines has 329 aircraft in its fleet and 31,000 employees. Its aircraft-to-employee ratio is 94. Qatar Airways has 240 aircraft in its fleet and 32,000 employees making its aircraft-to-employee ratio 133. Etihad Airways has 102 aircraft in its fleet and 21,530 employees with an aircraft-to-employee ratio of 211. Emirates has an aircraft-to-employee ratio of 231 with 269 aircraft in its fleet and 62,000 employees.
No airline in the world with more than 14,500 employees with a deficit of Rs. 400 billion and liabilities of over Rs. 100 billion can become self-sustainable.
CEO PIA added that the national flag carrier had introduced a Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS) worth Rs. 12.87 billion for its employees in September 2020 in a bid to cut down its expenses and bridge the annual deficit.
Out of 14,500 employees of the PIA, around 2,000 have availed of the VSS. More than 800 employees were sacked on account of fake degrees while over 1,000 ghost employees were sent packing. Around 1,100 employees were fired for corruption.
Majic !!
We all know the reasons – Pakistan steel and now PIA with ghost employees. The education department needs to be looked at.