Senate committee to take up PIA's Rs700m deal.

ISLAMABAD -- A parliamentary committee this week will inquire what it believes was Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)'s dubious Rs700 million deal for the development of an indigenous in-flight entertainment system.

Besides, the Senate Standing Committee on Aviation would also look into reasons for closing PIA's Hyderabad booking office and the non-operational Mohenjodaro airport.

In 2020, a decision was taken by the national flag carrier that its Boeing-777 aircraft would get new Inflight Entertainment System (IFE) at a modest cost of Rs700 million. This was to help PIA compete on its long-haul flights to Europe and in time to the United States. PIA claimed that its advantage lay in its direct shorter duration flights. However, the absence of the IFI system had badly affected PIA's revenues.

The measures were necessary as part of its turnaround and in its bid to improve its image and increase its revenues.

PIA's long haul flights had been without an effective IFE system for quite some time creating embarrassing scenes.

Besides, the absence of IFE system had been adversely affecting PIA's ability to provide a standard...