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Air Marshal Asghar Khan (left)
President PIA and Mufti Mohammad Salim (right), Vice President are
seen attending the 22nd International Air Transport Association
(IATA) Annual General Meeting which was held at Mexico City,
Mexico, in 1966. The designations President and Vice President
were used with the introduction of American style of management in
PIA by Air Marshal Asghar Khan.
Mufti Mohammad Salim remained
associated with airline industry for more than 50 years. An
engineer by profession, Mr. Salim had the unique experience of
setting up airlines. He was one of key figures in the
establishment of Orient Airways, PIA and Air Malta. He also
played important role in re-organizing Alia - Royal Jordanian
Airlines and Syrian Arab Airlines. Mr. Salim was also founding
chairman of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Pakistan.
Mr. Salim was the Managing
Director of PIA from 1980 to 1983 and then Chairman of PIA
subsidiaries and associated companies from 1983 to 1986.
Mufti Mohammad Salim retired in
March 1986 as the Chairman of PIA Investments Limited (PIAIL)
and as an advisor to the Board of Directors PIA. His brilliant
career spanned the aviation industry in the sub-continent and
began with his admission to the first Aeronautical Training
Institute set up in New Delhi in 1935. He successfully completed
his training and held the first aircraft engineer's "B" licence
given to any Indian national without having been trained abroad. He
served in Tata Airlines, the Indian National Airways and the
Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA) India before partition
and at the time of creation of Pakistan was with Orient Airways
in Calcutta. He moved to Pakistan as the Chief Engineer of
Orient Airways and later became its Chief Executive. When PIA
was set up he was among its founders as the two airlines were
merged. In the national carrier he headed the Administration
Directorate, Planning Directorate, the Commercial Directorate
before seconded to Alia - Royal Jordanian Airlines in 1970 to
help its expansion as a modern carrier. After successfully
putting Alia on its feet. Mr. Salim was sent to Malta to set up
from scratch, the island's own air carrier Air Malta in which
PIA had offered technical assistance. His stay in Air Malta was
for six years. He retired from PIA in 1979 but was again taken
as Managing Director after a few months.
In 1966, Mr. Salim was awarded
Tamgha-e-Quaid-e-Azam (TQA). The book titled 'The Story of Air
Transport in Pakistan' authored by Mr. Salim is a must-read for
aviation historians specially from Pakistan |
