Pakistan fines Qatar Airlines for SOPs violations

The Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority has fined Qatar Airlines for violations of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on an international flight.

“PCAA has taken serious notice of violation of SOPs on an international flight by Qatar Airlines which resulted in putting the health and safety of the passengers as well as personnel working at the Airport at risk," said the authority in a statement.

The PCAA has imposed a fine of Rs 100,000 on Qatar Airlines. “The Airline shall also be responsible for all expenses incurred on the testing of COVID-19 and Quarantine, etc,” PCAA added.

In August, the airlines announced to ramp up its flight services in Pakistan, amid the decline in coronavirus cases in the country. The airline now operates 49 weekly flights to four gateways in Pakistan i.e. Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, and Peshawar with its Boeing 787 and A350 aircraft.

Meanwhile, last month, PCAA issued new SOPs for international passengers amid the rising cases of COVID-19, while will remain in effect to 31-12-2020.

Under the new SOPs the requirement for vacant seats has been abolished. Passengers shall be required to install Pass Track App downloadable from the google play store and the apple store. Meanwhile, passengers who do not possess a smart phone shall be required to enter their data on the passtrack.nitb.gov.pk/login website.

Under the new SOPs, children under age 12, disabled passengers, and high-level International delegations referred by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be exempted from the App/ web data requirement.