The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has assured its employees that the around 25 percent cut in their salaries is reversible as soon as the flights operation gets into full gear.

According to a letter written by PIA CEO Air Marshal Arshad Malik, the national airline has been going suffering financial losses during the last decade and as a whole, the airline industry around the world has faced a loss of over $300 billion due to coronavirus.

The CEO further added that in order to lower the economic burden on the national carrier during this corona phase, the PIA has decided to cut a certain percentage of salaries. As per the agreed formula, ten percent salary shall be cut from employees drawing pay of one to two lakhs,  fifteen percent from employees earning two to five lakhs while 25 percent from employees earning more than five lakhs.

The CEO further added that there will no pay cut from lower staff who fall within group one to group four.

Arshad Malik highlighted that these steps are only taken in the wake of the coronavirus where the airline is operating only limited flights. “The normal salaries shall continue when normal flight operations resume.”

Moreover, Arshad Malik emphasized on the fact that major airlines in the world are in process of downsizing and employees are being asked to leave.

It is pertinent to mention that PIA CEO met Prime Minister Imran Khan on June 8th in Islamabad. The CEO gave a briefing about the recent air crash. He also updated that a sum of Rs24 billion was being spent annually to pay salaries to its 14,500 employees alone. During the meeting, a timeline for the PIA's restructuring as well as a comprehensive roadmap over reforms and their implementation was also submitted to the prime minister.