Airspace closure inflicted Rs8.5bn loss on CAA, almost double on Indian aviation, says minister

KARACHI: Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan said on Tuesday the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) suffered a loss of Rs 8.5 billion because of airspace restrictions put in place following the Feb 26 ingress by Indian warplanes into Pakistan territory.

Speaking at a press conference at the CAA headquarters, he said the airspace closure hit Indian aviation very hard as the loss suffered by it was almost double.

“But at this point in time, détente and harmony are needed”, the minister stressed, referring to recent tensions between the two neighbouring countries.

He clarified that the plan of restructuring CAA is purely based on technical grounds and would infuse new momentum into the organisation.

The recent bifurcation of CAA functions into regulatory roles vis-à-vis commercial/service provider roles is simply to optimise its efficiency and performance, the minister said.

He ruled any “downsizing/rightsizing” in CAA due to bifurcation which he said would spur growth in national aviation and fetch far-reaching benefits.

Highlighting the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, he said that it is the government’s priority to revamp PIA and increase its fleet to 45 by phasing-in of 14 new aircraft on gradual basis by the year 2025.

He further said that earlier owing to open sky policies our domestic airlines would not have space to expand their operations. Therefore, he added, now open sky policy has been switched over to fair sky policy which offers equal opportunity to domestic air operators to grow their business.

“In this regard all of the Air Services Agreements (ASAs) with various countries will be reviewed in the interest of Pakistan”, he said.

In pursuing New Aviation Policy 2019 (NAP 2019), he acknowledged that the security agencies would be equipped with the latest security equipment and scanners to meet the international security standards.

He cleared that there is no plan to shift the headquarters of CAA, PIA or ASF to Islamabad. However, he added, approximately 60% of aviation-related activities have already been shifted to the northern part of Pakistan.