The financial crisis of the debt-ridden Pakistan International Airlines has worsened to such an extent that the national flag carrier could not pay the service charges of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) by itself, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Saturday.

The economically struggling PIA borrowed Rs1 billion from the Civil Aviation Authority and made payment to the IATA.

The CAA lent money to the national flag carrier on the direction of Ministry of Finance.

Sources said that had the PIA failed to make this payment, the IATA would have defaulted it and the PIA could not have sold its tickets all cross the world.

CAA DG confirmed that the Civil Aviation Authority has lent Rs1 billion to the PIA on the direction of the Finance Ministry and the airlines would return this money next week.

The PIA is in deep financial crunch and it has decided to partially halt its flight operation. It has planned to reduce its flight operations on less profitable routes.

The sources revealed that PIA has already started working on a backup Plan B which involves reducing flight operations by 15% to 25%.

However, some media reports suggested that the airlines would cease to exist soon.

Refuting such rumours, the PIA spokesperson termed these reports baseless, saying that the flight operation was continuing and the airline was also disbursing most urgent domestic and international payments.

He said that the PIA has a strong network across the globe and its fleet operates worldwide.

Meanwhile, the CCA has initiated the pre-bidding process to outsource the operations of Islamabad International Airport under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.

An invitation notice has been issued to the interested parties to attend the pre-bid conference in Dubai on Sept 26.

According to the CAA, the interested parties must confirm their attendance through email by Sept 19.

 

Reporter Tayyab Saif