KARACHI, May 30: The Civil Aviation Authority directed on Monday the three private airlines and the Pakistan International Airlines to establish air fares above cost. Sources said the direction to this effect was made during a meeting which was chaired by CAA Director General Air Marshal (retd) Parvaiz Akhtar Nawaz and attended by the representatives of the PIA, Shaheen Air, Airblue and Aero Asia.

They said that the director-general asked the representatives of the national flag carrier and the three private airlines to hold a meeting on Wednesday to resolve the issue.

The sources said the PIA, being the national carrier and having an advantage over the smaller private airlines, was asked to show sympathetic attitude to avert the crisis. The meeting decided that the price war must come to an end as the private airlines had brought foreign investment.

The defence ministry had asked the director-general to convene a meeting of representatives of the PIA and three private airlines to resolve the ongoing airfare price war.

Besides the CAA’s deputy director-general and others high-ranking officials, the meeting was attended by Shahid Khakan Abbasi and Nasir Ali, chief executive officer and director commercial of the Airblue; Rauf Tabani, Hamza Tabani and Khursheed Anwar of the Aero Asia; Parvez Ahmed and Tariq Hussain of Shaheen Air. Farooq Shah, deputy managing director, and Kamran Hasan, director marketing represented the national flag carrier.

According to the sources, Air Marshal (retd) Parvaiz Akhtar said that the aviation industry was in crisis and the ongoing fare war had put the private airlines into a critical position. “The ministry of defence has given CAA a mandate to resolve the issue,” he remarked.

He stressed the need of joint efforts to save the aviation industry from crisis and resolve the issue of establishing fares above cost.

The price war between the PIA and the private airlines deepened a couple of weeks ago when the national carrier introduced a new fare chart and private carriers decided to cut their fares by 60 per cent.

However, the new fares perturbed the management of the three private airlines and they appealed to the ministry of defence and Civil Aviation Authority to intervene.