Pakistan Appoints New Aviation Minister

[Abbas Ali]

Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has been given additional charge of country's Aviation Ministry.



Abbas

[contrails]

the circus just keeps getting better.

[Amaad Lone]

Rather then an aviation Minister might be better to appoint a TRANSPORT MINISTER under which you also have

1. Railways,
2. Civil Aviation Authority
3. And Aviation

BTW what is the job of an Aviation minister??

[Abbas Ali]

PTV News

On March 12, Khawaja Asif assumed charge of Aviation Ministry and visited his office in Islamabad where he was greeted by Secretary Ministry of Aviation Saif Anjum.

The Aviation Minister received briefing from Secretary Aviation on matters regarding aviation and ongoing projects under the ministry.


PTV News

Departments under Pakistan's Aviation Ministry include:

Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)
Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA)
Bureau of Air Safety Investigation (BASI)
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)
Airports Security Force (ASF)
Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD)

Abbas

[AviationLover2020]

The first priority must be restarting UK/EU routes and undoing the mess left by the previous (notorious) aviation minister. Even if PIA is to be mothballed and sold off, he owes it to private airlines like Air Sial which might want to look at expansion towards that side.

[Karachi Aviator]

The first priority must be restarting UK/EU routes and undoing the mess left by the previous (notorious) aviation minister. Even if PIA is to be mothballed and sold off, he owes it to private airlines like Air Sial which might want to look at expansion towards that side.

EU/UK restoration is a waiting game now, the official decision comes in may, it's better not to mess up anything in the next 2 months and wait for the final decision.

[contrails]

The first priority must be restarting UK/EU routes and undoing the mess left by the previous (notorious) aviation minister. Even if PIA is to be mothballed and sold off, he owes it to private airlines like Air Sial which might want to look at expansion towards that side.

That will not be happening for sometime to come.

Airlines better start looking at non EU/UK destinations.

From what I hear about Airsial - mostly talk and big claims. It's just like any other private airline in Pakistan in terms of destinations.

[TomcatTask]

The first priority must be restarting UK/EU routes and undoing the mess left by the previous (notorious) aviation minister. Even if PIA is to be mothballed and sold off, he owes it to private airlines like Air Sial which might want to look at expansion towards that side.

That will not be happening for sometime to come.

Airlines better start looking at non EU/UK destinations.

From what I hear about Airsial - mostly talk and big claims. It's just like any other private airline in Pakistan in terms of destinations.

You think the decision in May will not be good? Why is that? Regarding other destinations, I think other airlines are in a tight spot as the other routes like Australia, USA also require EASA clearance. So until they give the go ahead they wont even start entertaining any Pakistani airline. Other than that I guess there's the Middle East and Asia but, how profitable can any new route really be? There's not much demand in Asia for any other route I imagine and the Middle East market seems kind of saturated.

[Abbas Ali]

On March 14, 2024, Federal Minister for Aviation Khawaja Muhammed Asif chaired a meeting spanned more than four hours wherein he was given detailed briefing by Secretary Aviation on the role of Aviation Ministry, National Aviation Policy - 2023, challenges faced by Pakistan's aviation industry, opportunities, and Air Service Agreements (ASA) with other countries.

The minister was also briefed on the entities working under the ministry including Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited (PIACL), Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA), Bureau of Air Safety Investigation (BASI), Airports Security Force (ASF) and Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD).

While being briefed on PIACL, the minister remarked that the privatization of PIACL would be the priority of this government. He also commended the joint venture for mix use re-development of the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, USA. Federal Minister Khawaja Muhammed Asif showed his resolve to grow the aviation industry of Pakistan in terms of enhancing it's contribution to country's GDP.

International Finance Corporation (IFC) apprised the minister about latest development of outsourcing of three major airports including Islamabad International Airport - Islamabad, Jinnah International Airport - Karachi and Allama Iqbal International Airport - Lahore in first phase.

The meeting was attended by Secretary Aviation Saif Anjum, CEO PIACL Air Marshal Aamir Hayat, Director General (DG) Pakistan CCA Khaqan Murtaza, DG ASF Major General Asif Adnan Jah, Chairman PIA Investments Limited (PIAIL) Shoukat Ali, DG PMD Mahr Sahibzad Khan, IFC team and other senior officers of the ministry.

Press Release

[contrails]

The first priority must be restarting UK/EU routes and undoing the mess left by the previous (notorious) aviation minister. Even if PIA is to be mothballed and sold off, he owes it to private airlines like Air Sial which might want to look at expansion towards that side.

That will not be happening for sometime to come.

Airlines better start looking at non EU/UK destinations.

From what I hear about Airsial - mostly talk and big claims. It's just like any other private airline in Pakistan in terms of destinations.

You think the decision in May will not be good? Why is that? Regarding other destinations, I think other airlines are in a tight spot as the other routes like Australia, USA also require EASA clearance. So until they give the go ahead they wont even start entertaining any Pakistani airline. Other than that I guess there's the Middle East and Asia but, how profitable can any new route really be? There's not much demand in Asia for any other route I imagine and the Middle East market seems kind of saturated.

The fleet maintenance status to start with.

Many other reasons.