EU curbs may affect PIA Europe schedule

[Abbas Ali]

By Syed Irfan Raza

ISLAMABAD, Oct 31: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is making desperate efforts to overcome a crisis created by certain restrictions imposed by the European Union on the national-flag carrier’s Boeing 747s.

Although some senior PIA officials have tried to downplay the development, sources in the airline told Dawn on Tuesday that the restrictions were being clamped from Nov 1, and none of the 747s being operated by the airline would be flying to any destination in Europe until the problem was resolved.

According to the PIA schedule, two London-bound flights will take off from here at 6:30am and 11am and would be operated by Airbus A310 and Boeing 777 respectively. The aircraft may have already been assigned, but the sources said the restrictions on Boeing 747 Jumbo plane would remain in place.

The PIA flights operation is likely to be disrupted following the suspension of the 747 flights to European countries, United States and Canada for reportedly not meeting the standards set by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the sources said.

The airline officials were reluctant to go into specifics about the restrictions. The PIA general manager Imran Ghaznazi said there were only minor objections raised by the EASA, like the issue of cleanliness, poor carpeting and upholstery. But he categorically stated that there was no engineering fault in the aircraft which were in ‘perfect shape’.

The official said the flights maintenance standards of EASA were very high as compared to those in Asia and in case of minor objections by the agency, such actions were being taken. He claimed that PIA had addressed all EASA objections and refurbished its aircraft to meet the EU standards. One of the refurbished Boeing 747 was being sent to London in a couple of days, he said. Mr Ghaznavi also claimed that the suspension had not disrupted operations as only one out of 10 flights to European countries would be affected. He was confident that the problem would be solved in a couple of days. However, other officials said the problem would affect 50 percent of the flights to European destinations.

Following the suspension of Boeing 747 flights, the newly-purchased Boeing 777 and Airbus A310 will be used for long-range flights.

The sources said that currently PIA had only five Boeing 777 aircraft of which two could be used for long-range flights and the rest for medium-and short-range destinations.

Source: DAWN

[smarties]

LAHORE • State-owned Pakistan International Airlines has decided to temporarily suspend all Boeing 747 operation to Europe initially till 23 November and likely to extend to two months.

Because of this, 83 PIA flights have been affected and 38 cancelled due to restrictions imposed by the CAA Pakistan and the decision by PIA’s engineering and maintenance division to carry out thorough rectification, official sources said yesterday.

This follows a strict reprimand from EU following inspections carried out on PIA flights to Europe operated by Boeing 777, Boeing 747 and A310s.

Two PIA flights from Islamabad to London, two from Islamabad to Manchester and two from Lahore to Manchester have been cancelled.

PK 791 of today from Islamabad to Birmingham by A310 has been cancelled along with PK 364. PK 773 from Peshawar by A310 has also been cancelled.

The airline has suspended its Houston operation till further notice. Both the Long Range Boeing 777 flights to Toronto have also been cancelled and will now operate via Manchester. PK 364 of Saturday a Boeing 777 flight was suspended, along with PK 327 of yesterday.

The airline will now operate with a reduced capacity with A310s operating to London with almost 67 percent less seating capacity on Lahore to London.

An audit may have to be carried out of all recent leases of aircrafts, spare part procurement and appointments made in PIA by Senate committee or superior judiciary, if the airline is to survive.

This has hit PIA financially because of loss of revenues amounting to approximately over $39 million according to rough conservative estimates, which are likely to increase if proper measures are not adopted immediately.

According to The Nation newspaper Tuesday, the root causes of these restrictions are poor maintenance, inadequate provision of spare parts and poor management decisions. Problems started when PIA leased A310s from Jamaica in a controversial deal.

PIA inducted brand new Boeing 777s without sufficient planning, the report claimed. The Long range version of 777s was bought without getting prior approval for direct non stop flights to USA. The US Department of Homeland Security has now communicated to PIA that all flights to US will have to be routed via Manchester.

Following a series of Inspections made by various civil aviation regulatory bodies of Germany, Norway, France, Denmark, Italy, U.K, Greece, the European Union Transport Commissioner issued a warning to PIA, whereby the airlines operation will be strictly monitored and any further flagrant violation will lead to imposition of penalties including a ban on all flight operations to the 25-nation EU community.

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Displa ... 017346.xml

[nutsforplanes]

The PIA general manager Imran Ghaznavi said there were only minor objections raised by the EASA, like the issue of cleanliness, poor carpeting and upholstery. But he categorically stated that there was no engineering fault in the aircraft......

Who is he kidding!!

[smarties]

The PIA general manager Imran Ghaznavi said there were only minor objections raised by the EASA, like the issue of cleanliness, poor carpeting and upholstery. But he categorically stated that there was no engineering fault in the aircraft......

Who is he kidding!!

lol! If that was the case about cleanliness and dirty carpet, PIA would have been banned 20 years ago! That isn't a reason, that is an excuse!and a stupid excuse which makes no sense, and by saying all that he makes PIA look very unproffesional.

[CombiFan]

This Ghaznavi guy has been hired by Kirmani last month as a General Manager, (direct havaldar), I heard he was a TV actor before this job.

[Abbas Ali]

PIA reschedules operations to meet EU requirement

KARACHI: The rescheduling of Pakistan International Airlines’ UK operation has not affected the schedule on PIA’s Canada and European routes where the capacity and frequencies remain the same, said a press release issued here on Wednesday.

It said the recent rescheduling of PIA UK operation is due to the temporary redeployment of PIA B747 capacity to meet certain specific requirement, which has now become mandatory for EU operations.

Also, on USA route, there is no change in the existing schedule except one weekly flight to Houston that has been temporarily suspended during low season. On Heathrow UK route as against 10 flights the airline will be offering nine flights from Pakistan, which are sufficient to cater to the market needs during November and up to mid-December 2006.

Similarly, capacity to Manchester has been augmented through re-routing of PK-Toronto flights via Manchester, minimizing the impact of capacity reduction on Pakistan-Manchester route.

In accordance with PIA’s plan, USA, Canada, UK and Europe routes shall be operated with B777 aircraft. As per existing schedule, USA/Canada flights are already operated with B777 aircraft. The operations to UK and Europe will be converted to B777 by next year with the induction of additional B777 aircraft in the fleet. Thus ultimately all PIA operations to USA, Canada, UK and Europe shall be undertaken by B777 fleet by early 2007.

Source: The News