KARACHI: Caretaker Federal Minister for Defence, Foreign Affairs and Aviation, Abdullah Hussain Haroon has said that Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)'s revival is essential for the national development and the efforts of present management in improving the performance of PIA are appreciable.

This, he said during his visit to PIA Head Office here on Monday.

He, on the occasion, presided over a meeting in which he was given a detailed briefing on PIA Business Plan by President and CEO Musharraf Rasool Cyan.

Secretary Aviation & Acting Chairman Dr.Ijaz Munir, Members of Board of Directors; Atif Bajwa, Naveed Malik and Haq Nawaz were also present in the meeting.

Musharraf Rasool while giving the presentation apprised the house that our initial phase concerning the revival of "V1 project" went very well and now the airline is ready for the second phase of its revival strategy.

He said that there has been an increase of 7% in airline revenue in the first quarter of 2018 compared to corresponding period of 2017. It generated Rs 23.5 billion, an increase of Rs 1.6 billion.

Musharraf said that increase in revenue was achieved due to complete refurbishment of aircraft, increase in flight punctuality and regularity, aggressive promotional strategy and changing behaviours of front end staff which were the salient features of first phase of "V1".

The Federal Minister was briefed about the airline's Business Plan which included aggressive sales and marketing initiatives, product development such as cabin refurbishment and food quality improvement among other initiatives being taken for the betterment of the airline.

Abdullah Hussain Haroon appreciated the efforts made by PIA management and assured them of every possible help in bringing improvements.

He also emphasized upon management to make travel comfortable and convenient for public.