KARACHI: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has revoked the licence of a senior pilot and a first officer for carrying more passengers on board a Pakistan International Airlines aircraft than its capacity to Saudi Arabia in January, it was learnt on Sunday.

According to highly-placed sources, warning letters have also been issued to the ground staff — terminal manager and flight supervisor — in the matter.

The sources said that the senior purser (airhostess), who had raised the issue with the pilot and also informed the management about the illegality, had also been issued a letter of advice.

The sources say that senior pilot Anwer Adil and first officer Adeel Javed had operated the flight in which excess number of passengers had to stand throughout the over three-hour-long flight which was a serious threat to air safety. The incident was reported by senior purser Hina Turab to the management. Ground staffers — terminal manager Amjad Shah and flight supervisor Hidayatullah Shahani — had allowed more passengers on to the aircraft.

The sources said that the CAA had issued a directive on the subject “Finalisation of inquiry in incident PK 743 dated Jan 20, 2017” a couple of weeks ago and sent it to the PIA.

The Aug 30, 2017 directive says, “Reference is made to M-1 HQCAA/1076/036/FSAC/PC dated Aug 28, 2017.

“In pursuance of findings and consequent recommendations made in respect of inquiry conducted into PK 743 dated Jan 20, 2017, competent authority in exercise of powers vested under Rules 4 and 5 of Civil Aviation Rules, 1994, has ordered following for implementation with immediate effect.

“(a) Pilot license of Captain (Anwer Adil) be revoked for one year effective Jan 21, 2017.

“(b) Pilot licence of first officer (Adeel Javed) be revoked for three months effective three days after receipt of this letter.

“(c) Terminal manager Amjad Shah and flight supervisor Hidayatullah Shahani are issued with a letter of warning under intimation to the CAA.

“(d) Senior purser (Hina Turab) be awarded a letter of advice.

“Submitted for compliance and implementation under intimation to CAA,” adds the directive sent to the PIA’s director flight operations.

The sources said that the CAA had done some favour to pilot Anwer Adil and the directive has some discrepancies. As though his licence has been revoked for a year (effective from one day after the date of incident) directive is issued on Aug 30. Pilot Anwer Adil had continued to fly the PIA aircraft for many months even after the incident and had been grounded only a few weeks ago. So, on papers, though his licence has been revoked for a year (till Jan 20, 2018) he would not be flying the aircraft only for a few months.

The sources said that first officer Adeel Javed’s licence has been revoked for three months “effective after three days of receipt of this letter”, so he would undergo the full three-month punishment.

Sources said that senior purser Hina Turab, rather than being appreciated for reporting the illegality to the management, has been issued a letter of advice, a step that would deter other junior staffers to report the illegalities of their senior staffers to the management.

The sources said that the directive has been sent for implementation to PIA’s Flight Operations Director Uzair Khan, who himself had compromised the air safety, exposing lives of the hundreds of passengers to danger, has been issued a show-cause notice by the CAA a few weeks ago.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2017