KARACHI: The Civil Aviation Authority has suspended the operations of Air Indus from Wednesday owing to continuous safety regulation violations by the airline, it is learnt here on Tuesday.

According to highly placed sources, the operations of the airline can be resumed by the CAA, the aviation regulator in the country, only after the airline improves the quality of its aircraft and achieves the required safety standard as prescribed by the CAA.

Responding to Dawn queries, an Air Indus official said that the airline has not yet received any letter or order relating to the suspension of its operations.

However, a CAA spokesperson told Dawn that the CAA had issued orders for the suspension of operations of Air Indus from July 1.

The sources said that the condition of the Air Indus aircraft was not up to the mark and passengers had been raising the hue and cry for a long time, but no action had been taken by the CAA. In some cases, the sources added, even window panes had fallen down on passengers.

CAA spokesperson Pervez George told Dawn on Tuesday said that the unsafe conditions existed in the airline for a long time and it had been violating the safety regulations endangering lives of passengers as well as safety of the aircraft.

He said despite repeated issuance of safety related directives and warnings the Air Indus did not make any improvement.

Mr George shared some photographs showing the falling or hanging window panes on the passenger seats in the cabin of an Air Indus aircraft.

Meanwhile, Air Indus Direc­­tor (Operations) Shahnawaz Dara told Dawn that the airline had not yet received any such letter from the CAA informing it that its operations were being suspended.

Answering a question, he said the aircraft of Air Indus were in good operational condition.

He said the airline had four aircraft, one of them was damaged in a terrorist attack on the Jinnah Terminal a few months ago. The airline was seeking compensation from the CAA for the damages owing to poor security arrangements at the airport. One aircraft was under maintenance and two were functional, he added.

To another question he said that there were a few flights scheduled for July 1.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2015

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