Pakistan International Airlines commonly referred by PIA is the national flag carrier of Pakistan.
Its main center is in Karachi while Lahore and Islamabad serve as secondary hubs.
The airline was founded on 29 October 1946 as Orient Airways, initially based in Calcutta, British India, before shifting operations to the newly independent state of Pakistan in 1947. It was nationalized and merged with other airlines in 1955, and Pakistan International Airlines Corporation came into existence. The airline commenced international services in 1955 to London, via Cairo and Rome. PIA was one of the first Asian airlines to fly the Lockheed Super Constellation and was the first non-communist airline to fly to China. PIA was the second Asian airline ( after Air India ) to acquire jet aircraft by inducing a Boeing 707. In 2004, PIA became the launch customer of the Boeing 777-200LR. Since 2016, PIA has been slated for privatization to shift management to the private sector.
PIA is Pakistan's largest airline and operates a fleet of more than 30 aircraft. The airline operates scheduled services to 25 domestic destinations and 28 international destinations across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North America along with 19 interline destinations. It operates nearly 100 flights daily. The airline employed nearly 14,000 people in 2015 and has overall punctuality of 88%. In addition to commercial flight operations, PIA also owns The Roosevelt Hotel in New York City and the Sofitel Paris Scribe Hotel in Paris.
Five pilots of Pakistan's flag carrier PIA have not even completed their matriculation, the country's aviation body told the Supreme Court after finding the academic qualifications of seven pilots bogus.
Justice Ijazul Ahsan said a non-matric person could not even drive a bus but these people were flying planes, putting the lives of the passenger in risk.
At least 50 Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) employees have been suspended for not furnishing their documents.
Academic qualifications of seven PIA pilots were found to be bogus and five of them had not even done matric, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) revealed before the Supreme Court (SC) bench, headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar.
The bench was hearing a matter relating to the verification of degrees of pilots and other staff of the PIA.
The CAA complained that educational boards and universities were not co-operated with it in carrying out the degree verification process.
It said that cases of 4,321 employees of the PIA had been verified while 402 were pending, the report said.
Justice Nisar asked the PIA to submit a list of its all 498 pilots along with their result of license examination, the report added.
Last month, the cash-strapped Pakistani government approved a Rs 1,700 crore bailout package for its ailing national flag carrier PIA which has been running into losses for years.
The government approved the rescue package to keep it floating.
The PIA's accumulated losses surged to Rs 36,000 crore by the end of June, which, according to the finance ministry, speaks volumes about the persistently worsening performance of the carrier.
The PIA has been in losses for years but consecutive governments have failed to improve its financial situation.
