ISLAMABAD:
Audit officials on Wednesday told the accountability arm of parliament that Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) suffered a loss of Rs 22 billion due to the prolonged grounding of its planes.
The Comptroller General informed the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the PIA aircraft spent a prolonged period in routine maintenance, ranging between 44 and 239 days, resulting in substantial losses in 2022.
While discussing the Aviation Division’s audit objections for the year 2023-24, officials revealed that one plane was grounded for 652 days. The audit department found that due to the negligence of the management, there were prolonged delays resulting in unjustified operational and financial losses of Rs 21.82 billion.
The PIA incurred additional losses of Rs 8.6 billion due to non-sale of spare parts or retired aircraft. The audit noted that the management had an inventory of retired aircraft spare parts valued at Rs 8,566 crore for the period 2015-2021, which had not been disposed of in violation of norms. The spare parts included parts from 747, 707, Cessna, SA-310 and WB-737 aircraft.
The audit noted that the failure to dispose of spare parts reflected negligence and inefficiency.
Apart from losing Rs 2.61 billion due to non-implementation of board directives regarding properties, and another Rs 1.669 billion due to irregular payments made without validation by the user department, the PIA also suffered a loss of Rs 112 billion due to irregular procurement of supplies and spare parts.
In 2022, the audit noted that the PIA management had procured various items worth Rs 112 million without observing Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) norms and through non-prequalified vendors.
Responding to these objections raised by the Comptroller General, Defense Ministry officials said the planes were grounded due to restrictions following the Covid pandemic.
Grounding also became necessary due to issues in the global supply chain. They attributed this to structural repairs, financial constraints and payment issues that affected the ability to perform timely maintenance and repairs.
Delays in the launch of these aircraft were due to unscheduled repairs to the fuselage structure. “Structural repairs are unforeseen and require additional time and materials,” the Defense Ministry said, adding that leases for these aircraft were also reduced to a minimum.
