PIA's clarification

PIA clarifies a news item appearing in a section of the press regarding delays of PIA flights. Passengers Safety is PIA's foremost priority. All aircraft are maintained and checked as per international standards by PIA Engineering after which their airworthiness is certified by CAA. PIA spokesman said here on Thursday.
As far as the acquisition of new aircraft is concerned, it is very much included in the airline's Business Plan, which has already been submitted to the Government of Pakistan. The flight delays as has no relevance whatsoever with aircraft acquisition.
He said, there have been flight delays but these have been attributed to bad weather and in particular, bird hit incidences, which are on the rise. In the past six months there have been 30 bird hit incidences which are beyond the control of the airline. In this regard the airline has requested CAA for an immediate action. In such cases aircraft is thoroughly checked as per airline's standard operating procedure and released after necessary repair and maintenance.
A few flights have been attributed to technical delays. However, the news that no action is taken against those responsible is not only false but misleading. PIA spokesman further said that on the contrary, Managing Director PIA, Nadeem Khan Yousufzai had taken a serious notice of the flight delays a few days back and has instructed PIA officials for on time departures and arrivals of PIA flights. He also took serious notice of long delays in few flights during the past week and instructed the concerned to initiate an inquiry; after which proper action will be taken against those responsible for the delays. MD PIA has also instructed for special care of passengers in case of unavoidable situations, said PIA spokesperson. PIA spokesman further said that PIA is meeting the extra rush of Umrah passengers this year and has so far operated more than 170 extra section flights for Saudi Arabia. Due long engagement the flight schedule of these flights sometimes is affected whereas the punctuality of PIA scheduled flights is over 85 percent which much above the industry average.
At present all PIA aircraft are being fully utilised and if there is a single bird hit incidence or delays due weather there is a consequential delay which PIA tries to minimise by either change of aircraft or quickest repairs and maintenance checks as per international standards. In case of long delays passengers are informed well before time to avoid any inconvenience, he concluded.-PR