PIA is Stealing Spotlight Once Again!

In an attempt to upgrade its 777 fleet, Pakistan International Airlines has recently made a mysterious deal. The Airline awarded PKR 700 Million contract to a company named Avionics Solution Pvt Ltd, which has no credibility. The company has just two years old registration and this is making its credibility questionable.

According to the deal, the company under the contract will do both up-gradation of existing equipment if possible or changing the system altogether if it meant having an entertainment system and experience in line with leading industry players.

As quoted by GVS Two companies were shortlisted: AAR International Corp (Singapore) and Avionic Solutions Private Limited (Pakistan). Furthermore, both the companies were shortlisted after the proper evaluation to check if they fulfill the requisition criteria or not. The evaluation report is published at the PPRA website as per Rule 35 of Public Procurement Rules.

As stated by the news website, the bidding results data showed that the Avionics solutions offered much lower bid and thus won the deal, while the other company offered the bid of Rs. 2.8 billion, which was far higher. Therefore, Aviation avionics was awarded the 700 rs Million contract in July 2019. As per sources, the CEO of the company Group Captain (R) Khawaja Moizuddin is a retired Airforce officer and is a close acquaintance to the PIA CEO, Air Marshal Arshad Malik.

 “PIA had been trying to upgrade its 777 fleet since long with off the shelf available solutions. However newer systems also require newer seats and the whole solution becomes so expensive that PIA would require nearly Billions to upgrade even one aircraft, an extremely difficult proposition for the cash-starved company like PIA. The matter was brought into the notice of the Government of Pakistan which directed PIA to look towards indigenous cost-effective sources to undergo this up-gradation.”

The absence of Inflight Entertainment Systems (IFE) is effecting the airline’s overall reputation as its competitors are providing top-notch IFEs. So, the step is only taken to take more advantage within a lower cost. Because the company already has a debt burden of Rs. 460 billion. However, the company is facing a lot of backlash because of the decision.

“The quality of development of [locally] doesn’t match international standards unless you have Project Managers and QA procedures that are followed.” Favad Qaisar, CEO Communication Square Pvt Ltd comments,

An airline has to stick to stringent codes and safety standards. If the service provider doesn’t have the requisite technical experience, it could prove fatal to the safety of the entire airline, Mr favad added.

It is worth noticing that the contract is awarded to Avionics Solutions under strict conditions. This contract will only be valid with its full value if the IFE system will get certifications from international bodies like FAA (Federal Aviation Administration of United States) European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Pakistan.

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