ISLAMABAD, Feb 20: Air Commodore Khalid Pervez Marwat, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (flight safety), has said that aviation safety has assumed an added importance in the wake of terrorism.

He said the reason for it was that the consequences of negligence and misfortune in this domain could be catastrophic.

He was speaking at the inaugural session of third Coalition Air Safety Conference at the Air Headquarters here on Tuesday.

Air Marshal Raashid Kalim, Vice Chief of the Air Staff, was the chief guest on the occasion.

Delegations from Australia, Oman, Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, and Egypt are participating in the conference.

The conference is being co-hosted by the Pakistan Air Force and the United States Air Force.

The first such conference was held in Qatar in 2004 and the second in Oman in 2005.

The third conference is being held here from February 20 to February 22.

Air Commodore Marwat said that in the aviation industry, the margin of error was extremely thin, and the steaks were high.

“As unforgiving as flying is, it is as integral a part of modern life as anything can be. Hence the need for all nations and corporations to join hands, in order to maximize productivity, and minimize hazards,” he stressed.

He said both military and commercial aviation in Pakistan had grown by leaps and bounds in the recent decades.

With state-of-the-art aircraft being added to fleets, the demands and challenges of flight safety has also grown manifold.

Air Commodore Marwat said: “Safety has no bounds this is what we believe and what we practise. The safety challenges faced by all are not too dissimilar. Therefore, the need rises to work evermore closely to share problems, and more importantly, their solutions.”

During the three days conference presentation and discussion sessions would be held on issues relating to air safety.