Air Marshal Arshad Malik was removed from office at the orders of Supreme Court. Yet, he is one of the most competent and sincere leaders to have emerged who has the capability to recover the airline and reclaim its past glories. His achievements includes, Eradication of corruption in PIA. Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that being the national flag carrier, the PIA had been the country's identity but unfortunately, it was included in those organizations which had borne the brunt of the past mismanagement, corruption and vested interests,PM Khan, who presided over the high level meeting few days back, was apprised that the PIA had been incurring a total loss of Rs 414.3 billion, including Rs 247 billion loans, Rs 144.7 billion arrears and Rs 4 billion for payment of loans on monthly installment basis, besides payment of Rs1.5 billion as monthly interest. During meeting Pakistan International Airlines Chairman Air Marshal Arshad Mahmood Malik apprised the Prime Minister that 194 ghost employees, 73 cabin crew and seven pilots possessing fake degrees were expelled from the organization in the last two months,The PIA chairman briefed the prime minister in detail about the steps taken to revive and run the national flag carrier on the professional and organized manner, eradication of corruption and mismanagement, reduction in the losses and improvement in its services. This meeting was also attended by Finance Minister Asad Umar, Minister for Privatization and Aviation Mohammad Mian Soomro, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan, Senator Faisal Javed and other senior officials. He also expressed his satisfaction over the present management's efforts and assured the government's complete support in the revival of the national airlines by turning it into a profit generating organization. The prime minister directed the PIA chairman to finalize a comprehensive and complete business plan, so that its losses could be netted, by making the PIA a profit-earning and financially stabilized organization. The PIA chairman also briefed the prime minister about the upcoming three months planning and the long term planning. Reduced the influence of unions in PIA . Last year Pakistan International Airline (PIA) imposed a ban on the trade union activities, withdrawing the exemption given to the office bearers working in the CBA unions. All the presidents, vice presidents and secretaries of the CBA unions would perform their official duties only, as the exemption from working for the union leaders is withdrawn. PIA has installed the biometric machines in its offices located in Chitral, Abbottabad, DI Khan, Bannu and Swat by abolishing manual attendance system.

All the employees posted at these stations have been directed to ensure their attendance on the biometric system. Dismissing employees with fake degrees. Besides those working at lower positions and cabin crew, 10 Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) pilots have also been dismissed from service after their degrees were found fake, the Senate Standing Committee on Aviation has been informed during a recent meeting. The committee Chairman, PML-N Senator Mushahidullah Khan, has, however, claimed he knows of a dozen employees with fake degrees still working with PIA. The issue of fake degrees in PIA has been in the news for the past several years. While discussing the issue of fake degrees and dismissal of some of those recruited on the basis of fake documents, the parliamentary committee was of the view that PIA should have maintained uniform criteria in dealing with cases of fake degrees. The committee chairman demanded action against all those officers and board members who had appointed the people with fake degrees without verifying their documents." PIA CEO Air Vice Marshal Noor Abbas informed the committee that the cases of fake degrees had been divided into three categories. Of the 650 cases, 15 employees were called to record their statements before the committee. The committee reviewed the documents of 300 dismissed staff members. It was of the view that the dismissal of the staff after working with the organisation for long years was a bit harsh and the management should have shown leniency while taking action on the matter. The committee said the harsh action had caused distress to families of dismissed employees. The management should have been lenient with those who confessed their guilt but tough with those who refused to show even repentance. PIA continues to be in the red for the past several years like many other public-sector entities in the country.

The government, however, goes on providing them with bailout packages. Closing uneconomic sectors also go in credit of Air Marshal Arshad Malik.Bullets points of Said Air Marshal includes , Opening new profitable sectors , Resolved the issue of overflying payment of Iran,Resolved the issue of overflying payment of Turkmenistan, Resolved the issue of limited passenger capacity at Tokyo, Night Operations resumed at Peshawar,UN charter flights business granted to PIA, Increased the frequency of Toronto flights, Revived several grounded aircrafts including A320 aircraft and B773 aircraft, Improved food services as well, Several routes discovered that saved thousands of kilograms of fuel, Salary of employees received on time , Reorganized the workforce to provide sufficient manpower in all departments, Increased discipline within organization, Improved airline punctuality and regularity,Conducted audits of all previous years,Decreased additional expenses in all departments,Removal of illegal settlements in PIA staff colony, Allocation of apartments in PIA staff colony on merit,Reallocation of cabin crew based on domicile reducing hostel expenses and supernumerary cabin crew,Opening around 50 new profitable domestic and International routes,After more then 3 decades opening another station Sialkot for EU and UK routes, First time Enhancing the UK/EU security liscence from 2 to 3 years, Engaging TSA USA for a very positive dialogue for establishing USA direct flights from Islamabad first time in the history, Promotions on the basis of competition with an approval of board inclusive of many members, More then 300 million revenue earned in 8 months by checking excess baggage ,Seat factor/ occupancy increased from 70% to 90% approximately, Performance monitoring resulted in increase of almost 80% cargo load, Induction of new aircraft after 5 years in PIA fleet, Almost 100% serviceability rate of the aircrafts, Incompetencies and slackness killed and professionalism was rewarded, Total Abolishment of protocol culture,Millions saved by checking the corruption in medical,Millions saved on daily basis by giving seats first to revenue passengers and then left over if any to PIA own,Closely monitoring and ensuring passenger handling courtesies and removal of their grievances,Finishing the culture of nepotism,Treatment of PIA female employees as sisters and daughters instead of sex symbols,Bringing Islam into the PIA culture,Strangely a judge can lead an investigative agency Nab without ever been an investigator,A judge can lead an Electuon commision without ever knowing the election process ,A beurocrate DMG Officer can lead railway, interior ministry, aviation,ministry, PIA or religious ministry without being formally trained in it,But a formally trained aviator who has managed aviation through commanding flying units, managed the biggest aviation engineering setup of probably Asia is considered not fit to lead an airline, what a joke or mockery of the IQ of Pakistani people,And the list goes on but the big question is are we ready to be the best,Are we ready to take pride in what we do,Are we ready to take back our place in Aviation industry,Are we ready to be honest and dignified,And Most of all are we ready to be rid of corruption, incompetencies and disintegration on the basis of group ethnicity and areas,We are humble PIA employees and want to work in an environments free of all the issues, to be paid regularly and timely and most of all we want to be secure ,We want inspiration, leadership, ownership, protection and last but not the least a compassionate elder and after Nurkhan it is Arshad Malik who we want Arshad Malik is our last hope and May Allah reward him for standing for the values our culture and religion has taught us.

© Pakistan Press International, source Asianet-Pakistan