TFD Report
LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Pakistan International Airlines on Thursday inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate business community and to build cordial business relations.
Chief Executive Officer of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Air Marshal Arshad Malik and LCCI President Mian Tariq Misbah inked MoU on behalf of their organizations.
LCCI Senior Vice President Muhammad Nasir Hameed Khan, Vice President Tahir Manzoor Chaudhry, former Senior Vice President Khawaja Khawar Rasheed, former Vice President Mian Zahid Jawaid Ahmad and Executive Committee Members were also present on the occasion.
The PIA will offer special discount to the LCCI members.
Speaking on the occasion, CEO PIA Air Marshal Arshad Malik said that the efforts for improvement has started yielding results in the PIA despite the COVID 19 and other challenges. He said that PIA’s revenue has increased and showed gross profit in the months of September and October.
He said that open sky policy has caused huge loss to PIA. He said that financial restructuring of PIA is well on the way and would be finalized soon.
The Air Marshal further said that cargo space utilization of the airline has been increased and Boeing 777 aircrafts can be used for cargo transportation.
Arshad Malik said the PIA is focusing the profitable routes based on demand prospects and commercial viability. He went on to say that unlike the past, all business decisions were now made collectively and political intervention has been ended.
The PIA chief said that no planning or up-gradation was made in the past for in-flight entertainment and passengers’ comfort on board the aircraft. He said that a system is being planned to be upgraded for the convenience of passengers on long haul flights.
He said that merit had been implemented in PIA and all promotions and foreign postings had been done purely on merit without any outside influence. He said that golden shake policy has been introduced for 3000 employees.
LCCI President Mian Tariq Misbah said that the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry would collaborate with PIA to form a strategic business partnership to ensure that the members of business community prefer PIA services for their domestic and international visits.
He hoped that MOU will go a long way in facilitating the business community of Lahore.
The LCCI President said that business community is showing its concerns to the government over the extra financial burden on budget caused by under-performance of a few Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs).
Mian Tariq Misbah said that the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry has already established several important help desks of various Government Departments under one roof. The main motive of LCCI behind these initiatives is to serve its members and create Ease of Doing Business for them. It is needless to mention that it is all because of cooperation extended by the Government departments and organizations.
