In contrast to delaying the hiring of 45 additional candidates, the Supreme Court on Wednesday approved 205 new professional appointments for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
PIA filed a lawsuit seeking approval for 250 recruitments of pilots, cabin crew, IT specialists, finance, and management officials. A two-member SC bench made up of Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Ayesha Malik heard the case.
The top court’s decision today approved the hiring of pilots, cabin crew, and IT professionals. The PIA’s administration was also given a directive by the court to make the hiring procedure public and comprehensible during the proceedings.
During the proceedings, Justice Ayesha Malik questioned “Why PIA was unable to pay its dues and why did it have to recruit more people.”
According to Justice Ijaz, the PIA’s service quality fell short of expectations. “The new hires would cost the organization more than Rs90 million annually,” he continued.
According to PIA CEO Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Amir Hayat, the national airline made Rs 3 billion in profit during the past six months, and flights were operating on lucrative routes.
He said that both international and domestic flight operations for the PIA had begun.
Justice Ijaz said that other airlines had a smaller flight crew and questioned whether the hiring would be done on a permanent or contract basis.
The CEO responded that the hiring would be done on a one-year renewable contract basis.
After hearing the CEO and another attorney general’s arguments, the supreme court approved the hiring of 205 workers.
