KARACHI: Over 56 per cent of flights of Pakistan International Airlines were delayed and could not arrive on scheduled time in August, 2014 while seven per cent were cancelled during the same period, says a report.

Sources said PIA had fixed a target that only around 15 per cent of its flights would be delayed in a month, but during August the data showed the delayed flights at 56 per cent.

The sources said that this highly confidential report was prepared on hard copy by the PIA flight operations department and shared only with its top bosses, including the prime minister’s adviser on aviation, the chairman and the managing director of the airline.

The report reveals that the single largest factor or cause for delays and cancellations of flights was “engineering” exposing exhausted fleet of the airline and its inefficient engineers, who could have got their aircraft ready in time, and the scheduling department, which made schedules apparently without keeping in mind the status and condition of the fleet.

The report says that a total of 2,623 flights were scheduled for August, but 170 of them were cancelled and only 2,453 of these could be operated bringing the number of operated flights to around 93 per cent.

The report shows that out of the total of 2,453 flights that the airline managed to operate during August, 1,367 flights were delayed and only 1,086 flights could arrive at their destinations on scheduled time, showing the punctuality at just 44 per cent against the airline’s own set target of 85 percent.

The sources said that the PIA in its efforts to present its decent picture had tried to shift part of the blame of cancelations and delayed flights on other organisations operating at airports.

The data shows that 288 delays and 60 cancelations had been caused owing to its engineering department and 192 delays had been caused owing to the information technology; whereas 58 delays and 65 cancellations were resulted due to commercial reasons, etc, bringing the total number of delays to 805 that were caused owing to the PIA’s own organisation and its different departments.

Other PIA departments which also contributed to the delays and cancellations include flight services, food services, operations, PIA security, etc.

Putting blame on other organisations for the delays and cancellation of flights, the report says that 158 delays were caused due to the Civil Aviation Authority; and 125 delays and 14 cancellations were caused due to weather; while 108 delays were caused due to immigration / customs; 286 delays and cancellations were caused by unidentified reasons just mentioned as “others” in the report, bringing the total number of delays and cancellations caused owing to other organisations to 866.

The total number of delayed and cancelled flights being 1,671 during August, the report adds that the security and air traffic control had also contributed towards the miserable status of the PIA flight operations.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2014