THIS is with reference to the report ‘More wreckage of crashed cargo plane found, search for crew ongoing: PAA’ (July 10). The 27-year-old B737-400, registered in Pakistan, crashed off the coast of Karachi.

Civil aviation in Pakistan is subjected to national and international regulatory scrutiny. The state regulator, the Pakistan Aviation Authority (PAA), is authorised to issue airworthiness certification for aircraft, certifying the carrier and regulating licences of all the essential operating crew, including pilots, aircraft engineers, air traffic controllers, load masters and others. It is the responsibility of the regulator to enforce operational and training standards that conform to the standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). Therefore, it is critically important that there be no political or bureaucratic interference, nor any elite influence, in the performance of PAA’s regulatory functions. Oversight can only be ensured through routine inspections by qualified PAA inspectors.

I fail to understand why PAA-registered aircraft, regardless of the airline they belong to, should be maintained outside the territorial jurisdiction of the regulator.

If any airline wants to house its main maintenance base anywhere outside Pakistan, the airworthiness certificate of the aircraft and its registration must be managed by the competent state regulator of that particular country; not by PAA.

Malik Tariq Ali
Lahore

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2026