ISLAMABAD, Oct 31: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is making desperate efforts to overcome a crisis created by certain restrictions imposed by the European Union on the national-flag carrier’s Boeing 747.
Although some senior PIA officials have tried to downplay the development, sources in the airline told Dawn on Tuesday that the restrictions were being clamped from Nov 1, and none of the 747s being operated by the airline would be flying to any destination in Europe until the problem was resolved.
According to the PIA schedule, two London-bound flights will take off from here at 6:30am and 11am and would be operated by Airbus A310 and Boeing 777 respectively. The aircraft may have already been assigned, but the sources said the restrictions on Boeing 747 Jumbo plane would remain in place.
The PIA flights operation is likely to be disrupted following the suspension of the 747 flights to European countries, United States and Canada for reportedly not meeting the standards set by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the sources said.
The airline officials were reluctant to go into specifics about the restrictions. The PIA general manager Imran Ghaznazi said there were only minor objections raised by the EASA, like the issue of cleanliness, poor carpeting and upholstery. But he categorically stated that there was no engineering fault in the aircraft which were in ‘perfect shape’.
The official said the flights maintenance standards of EASA were very high as compared to those in Asia and in case of minor objections by the agency, such actions were being taken. He claimed that PIA had addressed all EASA objections and refurbished its aircraft to meet the EU standards. One of the refurbished Boeing 747 was being sent to London in a couple of days, he said. Mr Ghaznavi also claimed that the suspension had not disrupted operations as only one out of 10 flights to European countries would be affected. He was confident that the problem would be solved in a couple of days. However, other officials said the problem would affect 50 pr cent of the flights to European destinations.
Following the suspension of Boeing 747s flights, the newly-purchased Boeing 777 and Airbus A310 will be used for long-range flights.
The sources said that currently PIA had only five Boeing 777 aircraft of which two could be used for long-range flights and the rest for medium-and short-range destinations.
