KARACHI: International Air Transport Association (IATA) is going to commence Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) by September 7, 2020 (Monday).
According to sources, the national flag carrier has to qualify the IOSA to get renewed its registration, which is going to expire by July 2021, sources said Friday.
They said that the IOSA is carried out after every two years and the last such audit of PIA was conducted in 2018 and added that this audit programme, which was designed by the IATA in 2003, was aimed at accessing the operational management and control systems of airlines across the globe and the renewal of airline's registration is subjected to the clearance of the IOSA.
Sources said that a designated safety audit team of IATA would access the operational management and control systems of PIA during IOSA and if PIA qualifies the IOSA then operational clearance certificate would be issued for next every two years.
Meanwhile, PIA spokesman said that the airline had completed all preparations for IOSA and added that CEO PIA Air Marshal Arshad Malik inspected the operational facilities where he was briefed by senior officials of engineering, ramp services and flight safety. He expressed his satisfaction on the briefings and instructed the officials for taking more initiatives for the betterment of the airline.
During the inspection, CEO PIA also discussed with the concerned officials of CAA to remove the old aircraft structures near ramp and apron areas as directed by Federal Minister for Aviation, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, PIA spokesman said and added that the structures were being removed to make more space for aircraft parking and also allowing better space allocation for aircraft under maintenance.
On the other hand, Pakistan Airline Pilots Association (PALPA) has asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to take notice of the huge losses incurred by the national airline due to poor management.
Taking the advantage of this poor approach other airlines have expanded their operations in Pakistan to major cities and foreign airlines especially Virgin Atlantic is planning to capitalize the market share.
Interestingly, British Airways has also announced operating flights from London Heathrow Airport to Islamabad, from current month two months earlier from its plan, PALPA said and requested PM to play his role for the betterment of the airline.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020