KARACHI: Aviation Secretary Shahrukh Nusrat said on Saturday that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was reviewing its air service agreements (ASAs) with foreign countries “to change the clauses which are not beneficial to domestic airlines”.

He said this while speaking at a press conference here at the CAA headquarters.

Domestic airlines, particularly the Pakistan International Air­lines, see the ASAs reached with the countries whose airlines were flying into Pakistan under the previous open sky policy as the main reason behind what they called ‘snatching’ of their share of passengers.

As the federal cabinet has approved the National Aviation Policy, 2019 — also called the fair sky policy — the CAA is in the process of modifying existing bilateral ASAs.

Domestic airlines blame previous open sky policy for ‘snatching’ of their share of passengers

Mr Nusrat told reporters that the implementation on the new aviation policy was continuing at a fast pace and most of the rules and regulations concerned had been revised.

He said that the terms, conditions and requirements for the issuance of the tourism promotion and regional integration licence had been drafted while CAA’s regulatory function was being separated from its role of a service provider.

The aviation secretary said that directives were being issued to rationalise all CAA charges. He said that recommendations were also being made to revise the government taxes on the aviation sector.

He said that the CAA would face no losses while providing relief to domestic airlines. He said that measures would also be taken to establish an independent aircraft accident investigation board.

Briefing about the first meeting of the Aviation Oversight Committee (AOC), Mr Nusrat said that it was attended by nearly 50 leading heads of aviation sector besides top officials of the PIA, Air Blue and Serene Air.

The meeting mainly focused on the progress on implementation of the new aviation policy and also discussed challenges being faced by the sector and their possible solutions.

The aviation secretary said that the AOC would meet after every three months.

“This is first time in the aviation history of Pakistan that a consultative platform has been provided for resolving the issues being faced by the aviation sector,” Mr Nusrat said.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2019