News
Sunday, February 25, 2007
PIA fleet will not be banned from flying to EU: CAABy Ali Waqar
LAHORE: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said on Saturday that no ban would be imposed on the Pakistan International Airlines’ (PIA) fleet in the European Union, and the airline’s aircraft would continue operating in the bloc after March 8.
Replying to a question about international organisations’ objections to PIA Boeings and air buses and the CAA stance on the subject, CAA Deputy Director General Vice Marshal Muhammad Safdar Khan said the CAA was satisfied with the PIA Boeings and air buses.
He was talking Daily Times after a conference of regional countries’ civil aviation associations in Lahore. He said the CAA believed that PIA’s international fleet was okay for operations. He said the authority was aware of the whole situation, and he attended a meeting in Brussels of the EU Air Safety Commission on February 22, where a PIA and CAA team made a successful presenatation.
He said the fleet’s operations in the bloc would continue after March 8, but certain quarters were trying to exploit the situation.
“I especially went to attend that meeting after the rising controversy on the issue,” he said. He conceded that the PIA fleet had some “small operational or technical faults”, but said the CAA knew about these problems, and the situation was being improved. “The CAA has occasionally stopped some aircraft from flying, but that happens only for two to three days because of technical problems.”
The CCA deputy director general said EU countries had been contacted to tell them that they should first consult the CAA on such issues.
According to reports on Friday, senior officials at the Pakistan High Commission in London told the PIA headquarters in Karachi that the EU would bar all PIA aircraft, except for Boeing 777s, from flying in the bloc after March 8 because of safety concerns. The reports said the decision was made in Brussels, where the Air Safety Commission’s meeting was held.
Courtesy DailyTimes.com.pk