The Pakistan International Airlines recorded an increase in revenue by 43% in the past year, according to an annual report compiled under the new CEO Air Marshal Arshad Malik, who resumed charge in March this year.
The report pertaining to the complete results of the national air carrier was submitted to the Pakistan Stock Exchange today.
In the report mentioned that the PIA increased its annual revenue in 2019 from Rs104 billion to Rs148 billion.
The increase in revenue brought to the fore the fact that the national airline recorded a gross profit for the first time in the past eight years.
The report mentioned that in 2018, the airline suffered a gross loss of Rs18 billion which it converted into a gross profit of eight billion the very next year.
In the results issued for the year 2019, PIA recorded a 76% decline in the total operational loss.
Two years back, in 2018, the gross operational loss amounted to Rs32 billion that was reduced to Rs7.70 billion in 2019.
In the first half of 2019, the national airline closed the year at a loss of more than Rs7 billion, but evened it out in the second annual half.
The airline saw a few hiccups regarding the supervision of its operations as its CEO Arshad Malik was stopped from performing his duties in December 2019 by the Sindh High Court.
The petitioner had contended that Malik was a senior official of the Pakistan Air Force, hence his authority as the top official of the national airline should be considered in violation of the law.
On January 21 this year, the Supreme Court (SC) had upheld the SHC’s verdict barring Air Marshal Arshad Malik from performing his duties as the PIA’s top official.
Following which, the federal government in its reply, submitted in the Supreme Court, stated that the revenue of the national flag-carrier increased by 44 percent during the tenure of Arshad Malik, adding that the line losses of the PIA were also brought down to 75 percent.
In March, the apex court finally allowed Air Marshal Malik to resume the charge of the airline with full authority.
