The airline’s management was in contact with the FBR, Pakistan-based Dawn reported, citing PIA spokesman Abdullah Hafeez. He said, despite the blocking of accounts, the flight operations and other activities of Pakistan International Airlines were continuing as usual.
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has reportedly frozen all the bank accounts of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), the country’s main airline, on the basis of non-payment of taxes.
The airline’s management was in contact with the FBR, Pakistan-based Dawn reported, citing PIA spokesman Abdullah Hafeez. He said, despite the blocking of accounts, the flight operations and other activities of PIA were continuing as usual.
According to sources, PIA owed about Rs 2.8 billion to the FBR in taxes. However, the airline claims its dues amount to around Rs 1.3 billion, the report added further.
This is not the first time that the accounts of PIA have been frozen. In January last year, 53 accounts of FBR were frozen over the same issue. The bank accounts were later restored after assurance of the PIA administration for early clearance of the taxes.
Meanwhile, Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has also rejected to provide fuel for three PIA aircraft which interrupted the scheduled flights including PK-309 Islamabad-Karachi, PK-330 Karachi-Multan and PK-739 Multan-Jeddah, reported ARY News.
In recent years, mismanagement of funds, a rise in operating costs, and a surge in fuel prices have led to financial difficulties for the national carrier.
Earlier, the board of directors of PIA failed to make a decision on employees’ pay raise citing financial hardships.
The PIA officers’ association rejected the proposed restructuring of the airline and demanded an immediate increase in the salary of all employees.
In a meeting headed by its president Aqeel Siddiqui on Wednesday, the association reviewed the decisions of the PIA’s board of directors and rejected the proposed restructuring of the organisation, it said in a statement, as per Dawn.
Safdar Anjum, general secretary of the association, said the meeting had rejected the proposed splitting of the airline into two parts.
Source: Business Today