April 8, 2006	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 9, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, April 7: The Civil Aviation Authority has introduced stringent regulations for pilots following the start of direct across-the-Atlantic flights by the Pakistan International Airlines under its ultra-long range (ULR) operation.

These regulations were new for PIA, said an office-bearer of the pilots association, Palpa, and caused ‘hiccups’ in the operation and aggravated the already serious problem of shortage of pilots.

A source in the airline industry said that despite claims by the PIA management of taking practical steps to overcome the problem, the situation was likely to worsen in coming days. “It is sheer mismanagement because the airline’s administration was well aware of arrival of new jets and should have taken steps in advance to handle the situation,” the source said.

And a source in the airline attributed the problem to inept handling of pilots by the management. He claimed that some 30 captains had left PIA to join other airlines. A large number of others, he added, were “on the wings”.

The PIA management, meanwhile, has accepted difficulties in operations and said it is continuously engaged to provide a permanent solution to the problem.

Blaming the previous management for the problem, it said: “It is pertinent to point out that in the last decade or so, planning for the induction of pilots periodically has been lagging behind and thus presently a shortage of pilots exists.”

Induction of the recently bought Boeing 777-200 ER and LR has put a lot of pressure on the scheduling of cockpit crew. The management says that 67 pilots are undergoing training and another 70 are in the process of being hired.

However, it said, it would take a few months before the operations returned to normal.