THIS refers to a vital issue relating to the safety of aircraft and passengers of our national airline in Saudi Arabian airspace where one can see PIA planes flying at a dangerously low altitude where Yemenis Houthi rebels fire missiles every now and then to target oil refineries and depots.

The situation is dangerous as oil worth millions of gallons is stored at those facilities. This air route must be avoided at all costs to save human and material loss. The PIA aircraft seen in the accompanying photograph was flying somewhere over a conflict-hit zone at less than 1,500-metre altitude while plumes of black smoke could be seen at the same location.

Besides, drone attacks by Houthis in that part of the world are common. We have already witnessed an incident in which Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur in July 2014 was allegedly hit by a Russian-made Buk missile over eastern Ukraine, resulting in the death of all 283 passengers and crew aboard.

PIA pilots must refuse to fly over any conflict zone in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, especially over any oil storage or refining facility, such as Aramco. Pakistan and Saudi air traffic controllers must be alert to this effect and our officials should not include such areas while devising flight plan for any PIA aircraft from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia.

Prof Nusrat Qureshi
Karachi

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2022