RAWALPINDI: The UK government provided Aviation Security Screeners Computer-Based Training and Checking Programme to the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Tuesday, along with computers for the authority’s Directorate of Aviation Security.

With this development, the CAA “achieved another significant milestone with the support of the UK Department for Transport”, the authority said in a statement.

CAA’s Director of Aviation Security Shahid Qadir and Airport Manager Aftab Gillani received the equipment from Mohammed Gaffar, first secretary at the British High Commission, at a ceremony held at the Islamabad International Airport.

Authority ‘walks back’ claims of UK flight resumption in May

The computer-based ‘Threat Image Recognition’ training programme and its hardware would enable timely compliance with another ICAO requirement of checking screeners in the aviation industry, including airlines, the Airports Sec­urity Force, cargo, etc., thr­ough a computer-based system.

PIA flights to UK

Meanwhile, a day after the CAA’s additional director general said that PIA flights to the UK would likely resume in May as inspections in this regard have been completed, the authority explained that the additional DG’s response referred to the upcoming European Union Air Safety Committee meeting in May and not to the resumption of flights to the UK.

As for the resumption of direct flights to the UK, a CAA spokesperson said the efforts were underway in this regard, but an exact time could not be specified at the moment.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2024