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KARACHI, April 25: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has prevented three PIA aircraft — two Boeing 77s and one 737-300 — from operating after finding faults in them during checks.
According to CAA’s Public Relations Manager Pervez George, “two of the planes were prevented from taking off during inspection on Wednesday while another was stopped on Tuesday”.
The Karachi-bound PK 341, a Boeing 737-300 aircraft, was stopped from taking off at the Faisalabad airport on Wednesday because of some problems in its engine.
“It is still being looked at by engineers who were flown to Faisalabad from Karachi on an Airbus while passengers of the grounded plane came to Karachi on the Airbus’s return trip to the city,” said Mr George.
Meanwhile, another PIA flight, a Boeing 777 with AP-BGL as its registration, going to Oslo from Lahore was stopped from taking off on Wednesday morning after the discovery of some technical defects.
“The plane was checked again by CAA inspectors after PIA engineers took care of the problem. The flight was then allowed to leave for its destination after a four-hour delay,” said the PRO.
Earlier on Tuesday, another Boeing 777 going to Barcelona was stopped by inspectors due to dents on its outer body found near the engines.
“The plane is still being worked on by the engineers as it stands in Karachi. It is yet to satisfy CAA inspectors,” he said.
Following the recent Bhoja Air crash in which all 127 people on board lost their lives, the CAA is working hard to ensure safe air travel.
“CAA Director General Nadeem Khan Yousufzai on the directive of Defense Minister Ahmad Mukhtar has ordered the Civil Aviation worthiness inspectors to be extremely strict and thorough in their routine, random and shakedown inspections,” Mr George said.
“Though the order was to check all private airlines, it doesn’t leave out the national flag carrier,” he said.
