This nation had a rough go of it from the get and there was a seemingly unsurmountable wall of problems that had to be hurdled for the nation to have a chance at survival. One of these problems was the fact that the newly formed nation was comprised of two wings that were separated by more than a thousand miles of hostile territory.
East Pakistan and West Pakistan, though became connected via rail and other networks, was always at a risk of being divided due to the fact that these networks worked at the will of a newly formed and hostile India.
It was a year before Pakistan was even formed that founder of the nation understood that speedy travel between the two wings was essential to there being any form of cooperation and unity in the future and instructed for there to be the speedy formation of the state’s first Airline.
Formation of Orient Airways
This task fell to the leading industrialist Mr. M. A. Isphahani who was able to get Orient Airways up and running within three months of being ordered to do so by the visionary Jinnah. Registered in Calcutta, the airline was known as Orient Airways and later the operating license was obtained by the airline in the May of 1947, three months before the nation was to be formed. Orient Airways was part of the lesser known route of relocation that was between Delhi and Karachi via air. With just two aircraft and three crew, Orient Airways became the flagship airline of our nation and was part of the very process of the country’s formation.
Orient Airways served as the fastest link between the two wings of Pakistan as well as a speedy link between the two newly formed capitals of the countries-Dacca and Karachi.
The Beginnings of PIA
Within the decade the government of Pakistan decided to merge and transform the airline into PIA and the new airline benefited from the maintenance facilities and infrastructure created by Orient Airways after the PIAC ordinance of 1955. This allowed Pakistan to start its first airline with International routes. Connecting Pakistan to the UK and Italy, PIA allowed the first swift route for the International travel of expatriates and served as a connection for Pakistanis to travel to and from Europe and the money earned was beneficial to the development of the airline for decades to come.
The airline would serve to be a source of pride for the nation, with technological and service developments that would rival those of other international juggernauts while retaining the national roots that gave PIA its flavor. The famous slogan “Great People to Fly With”, the slogan of the airline was a phrase coined by classic Pakistani poet, Mr Faiz Ahmed Faiz himself. And this was true. At least in those days.
The Golden Age of PIA
In 1959, Air Commodore Nur Khan arrived at the helm of PIA and thus began the “Golden Years” of PIA. This year onwards saw an era of rapid investment and development with expansion and growth of the airline to unprecedented levels. PIA became the first Asian airline to have Jet Aircrafts and to be operating a route employing these modern tech airliners to good results. In 1962, PIA broke the record for fastest flight between Karachi and London which has remained five decades after to this day. The Airline even became the first airline in the world in 1963 to offer regularly booked helicopter services as well and the service was very successful until it had to be scrapped in 1966. Truly, this era was the time for the most rapid expansion and experimentation for any airline to this day.
As surprising as it is in today’s day and age, PIA became one of the premier International Airlines of the 60s and was essential to the war effort in a support role in the war during that time. This was also the period where international designer Pierre Cardin was recruited to create the design for the Airline’s air-crew. This raised the esteem of the airline, where it became both efficient and fashionable.
The upward trend of the airline continued in the 70s where the airline began offering assistance to China, Philippines, Yemen, and even UAE to a lesser extent. It was during this time that the airline was considered one of the best of the world and was very profitable as well, serving as a source of pride for a nation much like a well-performing sports team would to any country during that time.
The Fall of PIA
This was not to last, unfortunately. The last of the 70s saw a period of political upheaval in the country that began a slow process of decline to come in the next decade. The dissolution of the two wings into Pakistan and Bangladesh signaled a decline in the nation and the airline that has not been repaired to this day. Though the early 1980s saw two record breaking years when it came to revenue, there were a few issues that began gnawing at the airline that would lead to its decline in the years to come.
One of the biggest issues faced by the airline was over-staffing. The airline had the highest staff to plane ratio in the world at that time, and this was the time that it became obvious that the airline could not escape the issues of incompetency, corruption, inefficiency, and non-profitability that were to come.
The 1990s were the first time that the Airline first began to suffer the effects of political interference that started its downfall the decade before. Despite it’s momentum as a profitable airline, the excessive hiring and relocation based upon political need rather than a corporate one caused a large number of incompetent employees that literally drove (or flew) the airline into the ground. There were frequent strikes by the crew and multiple liquidity crises that plagued the airline during this time.
Current Era
The War on Terror following the 9/11 attacks and subsequent closing of the Afghan Air space caused more problems for PIA, but the airline was able to cut and become profitable again for another decade until 2010.
Unfortunately this is where the corporate culture of the airline and the political interference in the hiring process became too apparent to ignore.
PIA has been facing multiple problems both internal and on a PR level for the last decade. Unable to bring in profits, multiple scandals (most recent being the fake license scandal) along with some pilots even being arrested for Human Trafficking or FUI (Flying under the influence), or trying to, at least. Also read about the crash ok PK8303.
The pride of the nation has come to new lows as the monopoly is being challenged while poor attitude of the national airline has caused it to become one of the worst airlines of the nation, and even, the world. a
