Karachi, April 20, 2020: A meeting was held at Islamabad between Minister for Aviation Mr. Ghulam Sarwar Khan and CEO PIA Air Marshal Arshad Malik to review the performance of PIA’s special operations to bring back stranded Pakistanis to the homeland and expatriation of other citizens to their home countries.
Various arrangements including safety measures, disinfection of the planes at and outside Pakistan, adherence of various safety protocols and safety of crew was deliberated upon.
During the discussion, Minister inquired about the fares being charged by PIA on its special flights. It was explained that as most of the flights are ferry flights or are flown with limited number of passengers due to ceiling put forth by the Government of Pakistan, thus to make such flights economically viable, slightly higher fares are being charged from the passengers.
It was decided in the meeting that, based on the feedback by the passengers, CEO PIA Air Marshal Arshad Malik assured the minister that he would look into the assertion of overcharging based on high operating costs associated with these flights.
CEO PIA has also shown his concern over the recent spate of complaints and has simultaneously ordered possibility of revision of fares on realistic and tenable terms to benefit the expatriate Pakistani community in this time of need. Clear cut directives have been issued that fares charged should only be geared towards meeting the cost of operations.
He has instructed commercial department that those responsible especially travel agents / partners who overcharged passengers and brought bad name to PIA, must be reprimanded with severest penalties set forth by regulations.
CEO PIA Air Marshal Arshad Malik has also directed the leadership team of PIA to go the extra-mile in facilitating stranded passengers and personally supervise the interaction of the customers with PIA, while at the same time encouraging his ground and in the air team to rise to the occasion for National Service which is a traditional hallmark of PIA.
He also reiterated that PIA’s crew are national heroes that are working hard to bring comfort to the passengers on the ground and in the air, despite a real risk to their own lives and their families.
