Daily Times

The Senate Standing Committee on Aviation in its meeting on Wednesday has constituted a sub-committee to further probe into the matter of illegal parking and entry fee at New Islamabad International Airport and to resolve the matter to bring the parking fee charges to a rational level.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Senator Mushahidullah Khan at the Parliament House and was attended among others by Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Senator Sherry Rehman, Senators Azam Khan Swati, Ateeq Sheikh, Chaudhry Tanveer, Hasil Khan Bizenjo, Fida Muhammad, Shaheen Khalid Butt, Haji Momin Khan Afridi, Aviation caretaker minister, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) director general and PIAC chief executive officer.

The sub-committee will be headed by Senator Azam Swati with Senators Ateeq Sheikh and Shaheen Khalid Butt as its members. The committee also directed the sub-committee to discuss the matter of up-gradation of posts of superintendents in BPS-17 of CAA and the issues of unions.

The committee asked CAA to take action and give report on the flight schedule of Air Blue and international flights in face of the ever-increasing flight delays and cancellations.

The committee expressed strong concern over the incident of Safari flight Skardu and did not accept the explanation given by the Pakistan International Airlines that it was done purely for promotion purposes. The committee was told that the purpose of the flight was an attempt to promote tourism and to earn more revenue for the national flag carrier and there was no malafide intention. The committee observed that the incident should not have happened.

The committee directed the CAA to make arrangements for setting up an office for the protocol staff of the Senate secretariat for facilitating the parliamentarians as it will improve efficacy and will reduce burden on the CAA staff.

Published in Daily Times, August 16^th 2018.