MULTAN, July 10 The International Society of Air Safety Investigators (ISASI) and the Royal Aeronautical Society (Pakistan Division) co-hosted a seminar on 'Aviation Safety in Pakistan' at a local hotel on Friday.

The seminar, sponsored by the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), was held on the third anniversary of the crash of a PIA Fokker to commemorate those who had died in the unfortunate incident on July 10, 2006, says a press release.

The seminar discussed ideas to improve air safety and raising public awareness towards transportation safety in Pakistan.

PIA Managing Director Mohammad Aijaz Haroon was the chief guest. Officials of PIA, Civil Aviation Authority, Pakistan Army, Pakistan Air Force, Air Blue, Pakistan State Oil, Shaheen Air International, Singapore Accident Investigation Board and International Society of Air Safety Investigators presented their papers.

Captain Salman Azhar read his paper on 'A practical approach to implement aviation safety management system; Chow Wah on 'Under water search and rescue operations; Col Arshad Amin on Singapore Accident Investigation Board, Safety -- Risk Management, and M Abdul Basit on 'Safety data collection & analysis procedures.

Other topics presented were bird hazard and aviation safety, flight data management for aviation safety and aviation fuels and aviation safety. Mr Haroon said PIA's foremost priority was the safety of its passengers and special attention was being made with regard to the safety standards of the airline. He said PIA had renewed its IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) Registration. The IATA has extended PIA's IOSA registration for the next two years. Of 1,500 registered airlines in the world, only 308 airlines were IOSA certified, he added.

He said PIA would organise a safety seminar every year in Multan declaring Multan a hub of aviation safety conference. A memorial would also be placed at Multan airport.