'PIA's head office not being shifted to Islamabad'

KARACHI: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) elucidated on Monday that the relocation of its employees to Islamabad did not “by any way [means] transferring the airline’s head office”.

The arbitrary transfers of pilots, cabin crews, engineers and dozens of other staffs working at the PIA head office gave rise to rumours that the head office of the national flag carrier is being shifted from Karachi to Islamabad.

To which, the PIA management gave a clarification that the national carrier was not “transferring” its head office, but it intends to make the new Islamabad International Airport as the “airline’s hub”.

“The PIA is not shifting its head office but moving fast to implement and achieve economic viability as envisaged in the airline’s business plan,” said a PIA spokesman.

“The management is reorganising its human resources to utilise them more efficiently and effectively. In doing so, it is re-positioning its employees to different stations throughout Pakistan. The management is in the process of transferring its employees to Islamabad and other stations wherever required to cope up with the workload, demand potential and future prospects,” the spokesman added.

“There exists more potential to be explored and revenue generated by making Islamabad Airport as the airline’s hub while generating additional business with focused attention from other major cities of country,” he claimed.

The spokesperson said that the PIA plans to augment its flights on profitable routes and is further planning new destinations on the basis of commercial viability.