The installation of Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) in PIA aircraft is likely to be completed by the end of current month; it is learnt Saturday. The installation of TCAS has been commenced after the ban imposed by UAE on all PIA aircrafts except Boeing 777 for using its airspace in December, 2015.
The said restriction from UAE, which has been made on the directives of International Air Transport Association (IATA) with the aim to ensure proper implementation of air safety measures, has compelled the PIA to initiate 'Load Management' exercise to maintain its passengers traffic and compete with other foreign airlines, sources in PIA said. However, this load management exercise is not only putting passengers into difficult situation but also created a new slogan for the airline 'Aaj Musafir Kal Saman'.
Meanwhile, official sources in PIA confirmed to have initiated load management exercise after the said restriction to maintain airline's traffic. They said that management of PIA had also reduced the admissible weight limit for the passengers from 50 kilograms to 42 kilograms for gulf region.
Replying to a question, they said that PIA with its limited resources could not be able to operate Boeing-777 on short distance route, hence aircrafts having capacity of 152 passengers were being operated on gulf routes that led luggage issues. They said that airline in order to maintain aircraft loan purposely were used to offloading passengers' luggage, which were later transported to another flights. Moreover, they said that A-310 aircrafts now got clearance for UAE and hoped that the complaints regarding late arrival of luggage would considerably be reduced in coming days.
On the other hand, sources said that PIA under the guise of load management exercise was trying to hide its inefficiency, saying that on January 8, loading staff did not load the dead body in flight PK-214, which left the Dubai airport and coffin was lying on the tarmac. Similarly, the baggage of passengers, travelling to Peshawar in flight PK-218 from Abu Dhabi, was not loaded on January 9, 2016.
When contacted, PIA spokesman confirmed that dead body, which was supposed to be loaded in flight PK-214 for Lahore, remained unloaded due to negligence on the part of the staff of local handling company. He said PIA's Dubai office had lodged an official complaint with the company and their concerned staff had been suspended while investigation was underway. The dead body was now sent to Lahore on the next available PIA flight via Karachi. He further stated that PIA was the only airline in the world which carried dead bodies of country's nationals along with one dependent free of charge.
Comments
Comments are closed.