Daily Times

The federal government has decided segregate Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) into two parts as Commercial Authority and Regulatory Authority, however, status of current employees in the department would be kept intact completely.

This was said by Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan during an informal interaction with the reporters at the Aviation Division. In view of cope with overwhelming matter, the minister said, the decision was taken. “Both the bodies would be fully autonomous with their separate Boards headed by Director Generals respectively”, he said adding that their boards would be independent while making strategies and any kind of decision in favour of the organization.

All process regarding this, would be completed till March 31, he reaffirmed.

“I heard from different segments within Aviation Division and outside that the current employees would be replaced, but I assured them that not a single employee would be fired or replaced”, Sarwar Khan assured. He admitted that there is still no revenue from domestic flights in Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), adding that however the airlines have increased international business significantly.

“In previous government tenure, there was approximate income of PIA was Rs 132 billion annually while it would have been expenditures of around Rs 146 billion annually”, he recalled adding that overall this sector was running with deficit of Rs 482 billion.

The minister also said that PIA will induct five more aircraft into its fleet by the end of the year. He added that PIA would start operating direct flights to the United States after receiving security clearance. “A team from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) team is arriving in Islamabad within the next few days with a business plan”, he hoped.

“Direct flights to the US will start if the US TSA team gives security clearance,” he said.

Sarwar Khan said that aviation authorities did not allow Emirates to operate the A-380 aircraft, the world’s largest passenger plane, to Pakistan due to PIA’s reservations.

PIA’s fleet consists of 31 aircraft operating on international and domestic routes. Five will be added to the fleet by the end of the year, he said, as the process of acquiring a wide-body and two narrow-body aircraft has begun.

Two aircraft grounded by the PIA, a Boeing-777 and an Airbus A320, have been repaired at a cost of $3 million and made serviceable, he added. He said these plans will be used for Hajj Operations.

The minister also criticised the increase in international and domestic air fares. He said the issue was discussed by the cabinet, but the increase was related to International Air Transport Association rules and currency devaluation. Aviation Secretary Hassan Nasir Jamy said on the occasion that that five new scanners, each worth $50,000, have been installed at the Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar airports where passengers are being scanned by health authorities facilitated by the CAA.

Besides this, the secretary said, the CAA is going to introduce e-gates, a self-automated service option, at seven major airports which will scan eligible travellers’ passports and clear their immigration without any delay.

Initially, e-gates will be installed in two phases at seven major airports, including Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan and Faisalabad. E-gate data will be protected under cyber security law.

E-gate is an automated self-service barrier at immigration checkpoints on airports which will also ascertain whether a traveller is a security risk or not by using facial recognition technology.

The secretary said the aviation industry in Pakistan continued to grow with one million additional passengers entering Pakistan every year.

Dubai and Pakistan aviation sectors are important for economies of their respective countries. Both countries will increase their mutual cooperation in aviation sector. He also mentioned that many international airlines were interested in starting their flight operations in Pakistan, including Pegasus (Turkey), Azal (Azerbaijan) and Shamwing (Syria).