Top PIA officials announce voluntary cut in salaries amid losses

KARACHI: Amid losses sustained by national-flag carrier due to coronavirus pandemic, top officials of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) have announced a voluntary cut in their salaries, ARY NEWS reported.

According to details, all PIA operations within and outside the country remain suspended due to the global spread of virus.

Initially, Chief Operating Officer (CEO) of the PIA, Air Marshal Arshad Malik announced a voluntary cut of 20 percent from his salary due to the losses sustained by the airline.

Following his footsteps, the other officials also announced a cut in their salaries. The chief officers of the departments announced a 20 percent cut, followed by 15 percent cut from general managers’ salaries, 10 percent from deputy general managers and eight percent from managers’ salaries.

A PIA spokesman said that announcing voluntary cuts from their salaries will help the airline in overcoming its financial burden to an extent.

Read More: PIA’s special flights to UK, Canada cancelled  

It is pertinent to mention here that Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan on Wednesday said that Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has incurred losses of upto Rs 4 billion due to coronavirus pandemic and it could further rise to Rs 6 billion by the end of March 2020.

He said that they were not alone to suffer from the ongoing situation as the entire aviation industry has incurred losses due to the virus outbreak, restricting worldwide movements.

The federal minister said that they operated 27 special flights to bring back 8824 Umrah pilgrims from Saudi Arabia while Pakistanis stranded in Qatar and United Arab Emirates were also brought back to homeland via special flights.