Pakistan state airline grounds dozens of flights over fuel bills

Pakistan's embattled national airline carrier this week cancelled dozens of domestic and international flights because it could not afford to pay its fuel bills, officials said Wednesday. State-run Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), long accused of being bloated and poorly run, has found funds drying up as the government struggles with a balance of payments crisis caused by crippling debt repayments. Athar Awan, a deputy spokesman for PIA, said 48 international and domestic flights were cancelled on Tuesday and Wednesday "due to non-availability of fuel". "The reason for the disruption in fuel supply is non-payment of dues because PIA is facing a financial crisis and cannot pay the dues to Pakistan State Oil on time," a PIA official speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP. Decades of mismanagement and instability have hobbled Pakistan's economy, and this year Islamabad was forced into yet another bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to avert default. The interim government has said it will sell off the airline as part of a wider privatisation plan for state-run companies. "The process of privatisation for the national airline should be made more transparent and expedited to prevent further financial losses to the national exchequer," caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said in a statement last week. A senior official at Pakistan State Oil (PSO) said the state-owned fuel supplier was "providing fuel for only flights that PIA has prioritised". He, too, was speaking on condition of anonymity. PIA had agreed this week to pay the oil firm 100m Pakistani rupees (around $360,000) every day to cover its dues, the PSO official said. "On Wednesday PSO received a payment of 150m rupees in return 26 flights were refuelled", the official added.<br/>