Who Crashed PIA? Untold Story of Downfall & Fake Pilot License Scandal of PIA.  

My late father was a retired engineer from PIA, and their words translated his thoughts; I miss him a lot after seeing this podcast.

This deserves more views. Rather a campaign.. Raftar team. Congratulations on the work.

Thank you respected ex PIA officials, for opening our eyes and proving this is nothing better than subjects we have been taught with misinformation

I took PIA from Kabul to Karachi in 1965 on my way to the USA. Phenomenal airlines. Then Karachi was the hub for Pan Am, KLM, TWA, and many other major international airlines. Stayed in Karachi for couple of days and then took KLM to the USA.

I myself have worse experience with PIA. I was always travelling business class between Riyadh- Karachi-Islamabad and way back . Most of the time between Karachi - Islamabad or back to Karachi PIA only upper Economy class . Once on the way back from Karachi to Riyadh my confirmed seat in business class they put me in Ecomony class because business class some relatives of pilots occupied our business class seats . That day I decided never use again PIA . Mumtaz Ali

Timestamp 3:14 Was Noor Khan and Asghar Khan (Golden Era) 4:56 What is the elephant in the room? 12:30 What's the percentage of core staff? 13:43 Two biggest mistakes that turned the course 15:40 Were we making making in 80s and 90s? 20:50 Were we at glory or was it just a hoax? 21:55 Privatization 22:25 800 Billion Accumulative Loss 23:20 No Long Term Planning 25:20 Host personal experience 26:00 Perks of Direct Flights 26:50 Flight Services and Competition 32:40 2011 Biggest Survey 36:45 Bans on PIA 44:40 Illegal Liscense 46:00 Pakistan can't have a hub? 47:13 Turkey as a Hub 55:00 Who dictates PIA? 57:10 Is Pilot Association (PALPA) a mafia? 1:02:35 SAEP (Society of Aircraft Engineers of Pakistan) another mafia 1:04:40 How to fix such organisation? 1:05:30 Marketing Employee 1:06:25 Were we ever good at something? 1:07:40 Story of FBR by Shabbar Zaidi 1:09:07 Can anyone amend the rules of PALPA? 1:10:05 Air Marshall Noor Khan and Air Marshall Asghar Khan 1:13:55 Salary Structure of PIA 1:16:15 Theft or Corruption in PIA 1:25:25 PIA MD took the plane to Germany 1:30:00 Is there Hope? 1:32:40 What's the way out? 1:38:20 Final words

Host is not letting talk to the interviewer, it seems like he wants talk more, this causes the listener to loose interest, secondly the other gentleman barely got a chance to speak. Host needs to learn how to interview..,

As a child of PIA employee growing up in 70's and 80's. I would disagree with some of the views of the panel. While it may be true PIA had no regional competition in its first 30 years of existence. PIA did carry massive amounts of load from Middle East to Far East, Europe and USA, and also from Europe to USA and vice versa. The decline started happening when PPP came into power and started recruiting its cronies into PIA. Bhutto banned serving alcohol in May1977 which exacerbated the decline. Since non Muslims stopped travelling and PIA turned into carrying families and labor class to Middle East. Just my 2 cents. Great podcast 👍

Excellent interview and bold and answers of both of guests. Highly appreciated

this host needs to let people speak a bit more. He interrupts people alot...

Best presentation. Business is not government job. These must be handed over to the concerned parties. All governance system must be reformed.. It should be based on strict merit, transparency, collective use of authority, performance based promotions and other incentives. May God show us rightful path and save our country.

These gentlemen should write a book on the historical disaster of Pakistan International Airline.

I being a former PIA employee believe an airline shouldn't be run by a govt. It can keep some shares if they want, but it should primarily be a public-private venture.

We were never lumbar 1 in anything. We were just exposed overtime. Every department from defense to sports is on a downfall from day 1 of Pakistan. We are never among the ranks in anything. We are just misguided and everything is falling apart. Best thing is to try to leave as early as possible.

When I was young college going kid, I was so impressed with PIA that after my FSC I sat in the entrance exam for PIA staff intake but unable to secure a position, until this day I dont know what was my score in the test, even after my Masters I applied again but no success - in 2002 I left Pakistan and migrated to New Zealand. Until this day, had an excellent career in IT and hold Technical and management positions in world leading companies in New Zealand. Now looking at PIA sorry state, I feel so fortunate that I made it to New Zealand. No corruption here. ONLY MERIT.

You have exposed the exact amount of misdeeds which are rampant in every department of the Airline , I was very much amazed to see the whole discussion of One hour and 45 minutes very interesting Discussion / Report . Worked for 28 years in the Flight Services department , I fully endorse it , in my view the downward trend of the airline started from 1977 and kept on declining , Alas we would have taken this entity by the horn at that point . Instead , we started to have the Int'l Tickets to JFK or LHR , the brain drain has started . Supersession with lower grade employees getting into higher grade without the knowledge of good communication skills and get on the Pay Group 8 and 9 and even as General Manager in Grp 10 , examples are as in Field Service and Passport & Visa Cell . Heart Bleeds when I see the In-efficiency of Employees .

Most of these retired PIA officers are themselves responsible for the downfall, what did Marketing achieve during last few years, blaming MNS is a political target, the open sky policy was the best thing to do as PIA marketing was cozy enough with the prior rules, like within 2 years you can't fly foreign carrier twice etc. Open sky policy brought private sector into business which made the industry grow. The only mistake was not to privatize the airline with introduction of open sky policy, and with due apologies these officers of PIA from all cadres were against every Govt's privatization move.

Very good program. I found the host very good he is actually making it easier for us to understand the technical terms.. very nice program.. we need more of these programs

Very good analysis by ex-PIA official on airline current stat which almost bankcourrupted

Dubai, Qatar, Bangladesh and many more Airlines have their own ground handling. (Dnata is a subsidiary of Emirates Airlines)

Please ask the anchor not to interrupt. The whole momentum goes down. Please don’t destroy topic.

India has an open sky policy since 1990.And for cargo it is since 1982, to boost/ facilitate trade, when we were busy in afghan war.

informatic video

Very true. I bought a ticket from LHE-Istanbul-Los angeles through expedia. Payment was processed but PIA staff called me and said there is no seat on the plane and they are not responsible for refund. Worst experience i ever had for air travel

This is Irshad Ghani our one of the best Operation Engineer of his time...Salute Sir...

A mind blowing unveil facts through this discussion for those who are and have been the part of our national flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). Think what PIA has given to you since you are and were a part of this autonomous national enterprise now it time to returned back with your sincerity and dedication to lift again this organization on the position when it was since 1960's till 1990's. "It's better to be late then never"

Look forward.

This podcast underscores the deep-rooted corruption within our nation. During my time as an intern at PIA Engineering in Karachi, I observed that many employees seemed to engage primarily in leisurely activities like chewing paan, snacking, and gossiping.

i really wonder why Mr Irshad is not the secretary of civil aviation .. he is amazing

during present day context this podcast looks unreal, yet simple more pdcasts rquired and people like them, team raftar salute from other side of kashmir

Ma sha Allah full informative and jazak Allah for the effort

first time heard about the reality of our country, the deep analysis of our international Airline, very happy to see and listen to literate people like you all. very inspired by these two Pia Officers. I as a Pakistani citizen hope that good people will find out the way to run PIA successfully and they don't have to to privatise this organisation too.

Thanks for doing this podcast. Very informative. Keep it up. 💯

These are the people remained on key posts in PIA ,they enjoyed PIA and are equally responsible for disaster of PIA. TKPk policy was extremely mischevius and kept confidential, stake holders were not taken onborad and there was a huge gap between employees and management. Besides all this nepotism , out of turn promotions / postings and murder of merit played a vital role to worsen the situation. The gentleman remained the chairman of promotion and posting boards and he stuffed PIA with blue eyed against the merit.

Very good host. To the point questions. Quite an open discussion. Reveals mega incompetency.

the only solution is to disband PIA or sell it for 1 rupee like Air India sold for 1 res to Tata, this is the only solution as Pia is irretrievable and just not viable.

It's very serious matter not laughing programme, the host is laughing for nothing, he is not serious like PIA.

I really impressed by this both officer's..there statement come from there hearts with completely truthful events in past..... highly experienced and. Ground to earth parson.... accepting mistakes is so hard task...and they analyse well and accepted.....

Maza Agya ... Zabardast

Hands down the best podcast I ever viewed, due to long duration I had to watch in 3 parts, but enjoyed every bit of it, not a single second was wasted.

The guest who was an engineer, doesn’t want to say how much commission he himself took before his retirement? Also, he himself was a culprit for not repairing the faults of the aircraft when UK and Germany had already pointed out those faults.

Informative. Sad to heard the reality . Very good discussion

Irshad Ghani sb. You have forgotten to mention about the union activities nd their interference in management affairs, interference of ruling political parties, induction of 5000 or more people in pIA in Benazir regime, later on thousands employees were reinducted in Zardari regime with back dated seniority nd arrears although all of them were terminated after proper inquiries nd investigations, all this was a burden on pIA. After regime of Benazir Bhutto corruption nd commission mafia was active till now, for an honest officer nd worker very difficult to perform their duties, there are so many other reasons, which u could not mention in your interview, anyhow it is one of the best interview to give reasons for deterioration of pIA

سعودی عرب کے انجحانی وزیر داخلہ سلطان بن عبدالعزیز نے سختی کے ساتھ سعودی ایر لائن کے تمام عملے کی فری ٹکٹ بند کردی تھی انہوں نے کہا تھا ہم عملے کو انکے خدمات کا معاوضہ (تنخواہ)دیتے ہیں چاہیں وہ کسی عدالت میں چلے جائں

Being an aviation family we love this Podcast welldone 👍

Salute for having such a ground breaking 2 episodes on PIA downfall. No channel would have done this. I am glad all 3 guest (part 1 and 2) came infront and shared the facts & true stories without any fear!! Great work Host & Raftar Team. Kudos!!!!

Govt of Pakistan should End "the Open sky policy" immediately and buy some latest dream liners 787 like Air India to grow Business of National prestigious Airline PIA ❤ RGRDS

Behind every distrucrtion there will be SHARIF brothers.

1:05:12 PIA serves the employees of PIA not the people of Pakistan

yr behtreeen episode ye sari knowledge I'm sure kissi bhi aam Pakistani ko nhi pta thi very much appreciated ❤

Zabardast interview.

Conclusion: Privatize PIA, otherwise government officials will destroy it further.

In Canada each city has police chief (DIG), deputy chief (SSP), Inspector (Staff Officer), Staff Sargents, Sargents, Senior Constables, Constables Total 50 or 60 officials for 50,000 people. All pays comes from city taxes, Mayor is responsible for the pay and expenses of Councillor’s. That’s how it’s works, city have to take care snow removal, sand, road and footpath’s construction parks maintenance, social welfare, education, law & order. We have CSS officers, it’s all useless. It need to be revive the whole system to improve and balance the budget with cuts.

Thanks for opening our eyes

It is a good podcast. Thanks for letting us know whats going on.. Recommendations: 1. Host need to stop interrupting and giving his own opinion. 2. Second Interviewee was not given equal time in sharing his side of story.

Having direct PIA staff working in stations like Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, and Peshawar is quite normal most competitors have their own staff working in hubs, and non-hubs they have 3rd party contract services. This also helps with passengers experience in hubs as well - positive away. Typically 3rd party staff don't do the best job.

At least every student who want to get admission in University must watch the podcast at-least to understand how things works in Pakistan. Best & worst case study is PIA story of the day. So every graduated person must listen this & understand that we as a national morally, socially, financially, & professionally corrupt.

What a sad story. There were many dedicated honest folks at PIA who deserved better leadership.

Amazing interview. I have only travelled once with pia otherwise I never travelled afterwards. I need good service and u get what you pay.

Unionism and nationalism by pp in 70s is the watershd for all sectors in Pakistan. People like the hosts here enjoyed full perks but did not give the company anythi g i return

Sadly, a culture of subservience and slavery, perhaps not in the literal sense, nevertheless, will never lead anywhere. My father was a pilot in PIA and came from the PAF. He flew for some 17 years before leaving for the US for good. He was so dissapointed and disgusted with the organization to the point that he even refused to talk about it in his later years.

Good effort to highlight PIA issues effecting decline of PIA.

This interview is eye opener.

A little clarification on the Trident matter: The final competition was between British-made Trident and US-made Boeing 727. PIA management selected Boeing 727 but then Managing Director PIA Nur Khan vetoed that decision and selected Trident because it was thought that Americans at some stage might stop PIA from using US-made Boeings on flights to/from China and in that case PIA could use Tridents for China flights. This is the time( around 1966) that the Americans had placed an arms embargo on Pakistan after the 1965 war with India. The Pakistan Government wanted to teach the Americans a lesson. I read some where that Nur Khan was very much in favor of the Boeing purchase initially, but Ayub Khan overrode his recommendation.

Intihaai fazool host, itni sanjeeda talk r iska itna fazool behave, I really feel sorry for him.

Good interview

Is ka matlab hei k PIA ki decision making siasat ki nazar ho gai aur PIA ko kabhi kisi transporter ne head nahi kia. New Khan bus walon k hawalay kr dete to wo PIA ko kahan se kahan pohncha dete.

1st step is to reduce foreign airline flights to Pakistan. One major problem with people of pakistan is dishonesty. If someone tries to reduce foreign airline flights to pakistan, they will bribe someone in Pakistan and get the approval despite of the orders.

PIA has a lot of issues, their booking system is very bad even I remember in 2000ish when they got new system, which was already deprecated system! but they paid huge money for that. Usually their tickets are way more expensive then very good flights, so how come passenger travl on it. I have done many travels using Etihad/Emirates and I always compare PIA was always expensive then these air lines. There are many time reports that flight was empty but on booking system there was no ticket available. I use to be transport manager in Karachi and I remember very well there were not seats but when our staff was travelling flight was 70% empty?? so how come your system show it fully booked. As for Airline yes once PIA was amazing flight I remember did one group from UK in 1999 and a big school group of UK came using PIA and they were doing transit from Pakistan. she told me PIA is their favourite flight and they always travel on it. So there was good name of PIA once, this is not true that they were only one but still it was good airline. Following they can do 1. manage standards of flights 2. Offer different rates like other airline do, if flight is empty low rate and later on increase rates 3. Nobody should allowed to delay flights 3. They must give option if no luggage very cheap flight, if luggage then expensive, meal should be also optional and if not taken give rebate. There are many more things but first get rid of those expensive staff and their demanding things.

Dear Irshad sahab, As you mention, loadsheet ,there were 2 columns for infants, and figures were coming in three columns, and PIA become family airlines. Dear for your information in loadsheet there is only one colomn, and infants figures cannot come in three figures because there is a limit of infants travelling as per the aircraft.

Well I appreciate both of the gentle men , I know and I encourage this decision to codeshare with TK. Myself , I am the sales Manager of Ethiopian Airline Pakistan and recently codeshare with PIA.

Interviewer/anchor is skipping many vital comments, he should have completed his course's. Seems like a kid with no training at all. He should have realized that gentlemen sitting in front of him are seniors and most respectful.

May God help us. I feel this is the state of almost all state run institutions. Sadly the problem is so widely pervasive and involves such a huge number of individuals/groups/organizations involved that finding or implementing solutions would be a nightmare if not impossible.

Eye opening.

Pakistan zindabad Pakistan key dakue paindabad.awam aour Pakistan wargia.

We are a land of Parwaris in every state run affairs. PIA is a result of hiring corrupt and uncompetent people at every level. The result is a unsafe and bankrupt airline. Shut it down and use the saved money on welfare for the people.

As a patriotic Pakistani Regardless of flaws and sometimes higher fair then other local airlines i still try to travel by Pia when ever possible . This is the only part i can play for my airline. Its sad to see Pia where it is right now whereas the potential of getting business for Pia is huge.

What an informative video 👍👍👍

WOW, SUCH AN EYE-OPENER. GREAT WORK BY YOU. 👍👍👍👍👍

Given pia retired employes he can start withen 6month no need mony we will pay all amount

اینکر باربار مہمان کو ٹوک رہا ہے۔ایک مرتبہ سوال کر لیا تو مہمان کو بولنے دو

Free tickets to Senators, MNAs, MPAs, PMs, President, armed forces officers and personnel etc are another reason of PIA.s destruction, in addition to a huge number of retured employees of PIA and their families who get international air tickets as well as hotel stays.

سنتا جا شرماتا جا ۔۔۔۔۔ ان دو سابقہ اعلیٰ افسران کی گفتگو سے اندازہ ھوجاتا ھے کہ ہمارے ہاں PIA جیسے بڑے اداروں کو بھی کتنے ذاتی مفادات کیلئیے اور casual انداز میں چلایا جاتا ھے۔ میزبان کو مبارکباد جنہوں نے اتنی طویل گفتگو کو بھی کہیں بورنگ نہیں ھونے دیا۔

Sir iam retired employes but ican do for pia we love pia

I have traveled with Orient airways before it became PIA under the leadership of Noor Khan. We in early days had options to fly using other international air lines like Pan Am , Lufthansa etc. PIA was the best airlines with par excellence in inflight and ground service operations with world's best trained pilots . In asia PIA was the first airlines to have conversions from Dakota to Jet Airlines. Mr host please refrain from making premature presumption on PIA of its early days. Most of your generation was not even born to witness the golden days of PIA. Today PIA has been destroyed by political interference and hiring every tom dick and harry..

Nawaz sharif used to take pia planes around the world full flight with friends and family with him and he would take his driver his personal chef his cleaners and all for free

Great Podcast Hats off to IRSHAD Ghani sahab and Tajwar Sahab every single moment of podcast is worth to listening. Being part of Irshad sahab team he is a dead honest and sincere person for Airline

They both are also culprits. Not senior and on merit

The host's body language is too overacting and I couldn't watch this serious talk due to his non serious behave.

Amazing. Only 6 % goes to HR could be the cheapest. Turkish Airlines ventures was great idea. Golf playing allies are real culprits.

Well explain by Irshad Ghani sh.regards

Amazing work, very sensible guest who were not beating the bushes around. They knew what they are talking very well versed and experienced. While host also did great job just a request to reduce interruption frequency + need sound system improvement. Thank you ince again for clarifying myths we are holding about PIA since long.

Some interviewers at Raftar need to learn to listen more and interrupt less. Having said that, they’re getting credit for being miles better than mainstream pakistani anchors.

Shocking😲

Wow one of the most informative podcast I listen.

MRO stands for Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul. Not Maintanance, Repair and Organization as mentioned. No wonder PIA is in this pitiable condition.

Thanks to RAFTAR and ex PIA Officials. We need more these type of peoples. Thank You

AOA bht hi zabardast pehli bar yeh chanel dekh or bht hi zabardast maza aya itni informative video bs dua hy Allah in 2no sahibaan ka ab abni khaas hifazat main rakhy q k yeh ek azaaad riyaasat hy

Excelent Intervew

Very informative program and great guests.