Boeing 747 flights resume

[Max]

Boeing 747 flights resume

AMRAIZ KHAN
LAHORE - A PIA Boeing 747 (Pk-787) will leave for London Heathrow from Karachi today (Wednesday) after temporary suspension of flights, following scrutiny by European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
By resuming its flight from Karachi, PIA management has ignored the fact that there is a huge backlog of passengers who were booked from Manchester and London for their choice destinations like Islamabad and Lahore. Sources in the airline confided to The Nation here on Tuesday. The bulk of PIA’s 79 percent UK based ethnic Pakistani traffic belonged to Azad Kashmir, Gujrat, Jhelum, Lahore, Lyallpur and Multan.
Following suspension of 433 seat Jumbo 747 flights since October 29, there is a huge backlog of passengers, some of them holding confirmed seats, waiting for resumption of normal schedules especially at Manchester, sources added. PIA presently is operating lower capacity Airbus 310s and Boeing 777 to Manchester and London from Islamabad and Lahore, where demand for seats is higher as compared to flights from Karachi.
The Pk-787 is the first flight to London since temporary suspension of flights by PIA, following scrutiny by European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
The next flight scheduled with Boeing 747 will be on Friday from Karachi to London with the same call sign. Travel agents based in Islamabad and Lahore have still not been notified about resumption of 747 flights from Northern hubs, sources added.
Meanwhile foreign airlines like Emirates, Ethihad, Qatar are picking up the load via their hubs for passengers from Islamabad and Lahore.
Passengers would prefer direct flights to resume, but they would rather go via Dubai or Abu Dhabi as transit stopovers instead of via Karachi, a UK based Pakistani passenger said.
It is worth mentioning that following inspections by EASA which pointed out discrepancies in PIA’s maintenance of aircrafts operating to Europe, three specific aircrafts were declared unfit till proper rectifications were not carried out. These were two Airbus A310s registration AP-BEC /AP-BEG and a Boeing 747 AP-BFV. The EU issued written notices to PIA and CAA informing them that their aircrafts are being placed under scrutiny.
This followed banning of over 90 non- scheduled airlines which could no longer land or over fly airspace of 25 member states union, signatory to EASA.
A former senior inspector of Airworthiness Inspection Division of CAA Pakistan, stated that retired officers working within are not accustomed to working in a regulated industry, nor are they qualified on types of aircrafts, which they inspect.
When contacted spokesman of PIA said that route of the new flight from Karachi could be due to operational reasons and it would not be fixed for Karachi only.
He informed that PIA would be able to operate its two more refurbished planes within a couple of days minimising the passengers seating problems.


http://nation.com.pk/daily/nov-2006/22/index9.php

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