City admin asked to clear garbage from Karachi airport surroundings over birds strikes

KARACHI: Jinnah International Airport Karachi authorities on Saturday asked the city administration to clean surroundings of the airport after increase in incidents of birds hitting planes during flight, ARY NEWS reported.

The airport authorities jumped into action after ARY NEWS reported rising incidents of planes being hit by birds during landing or take-off process, endangering the safety of the passengers.

The Karachi airport Manager Imran Khan wrote a letter to the Commissioner Karachi Iftikhar Shallwani and asked him to remove garbage collection points from the airport surroundings.

He said that a prompt action was required in this regard to ensure safe journey for the passengers traveling to and from the city. “The garbage is increasing movement of birds in the airport surroundings,” he said adding that it could endanger the planes moving from the airport.

On December 12, the incidents of planes hitting the birds during flights are consistently increasing as another aircraft of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) suffered damage near Karachi airport in a new case emerged within 24 hours, ARY News reported on Thursday.

The PIA flight from Islamabad to Karachi, PK-301, with many passengers on board escaped an accident after hitting a bird before landing at Karachi airport. A wing of the Airbus A-320 aircraft was damaged in the incident, however, the pilot managed to land the plane safely.

Read More: Bird strikes causing millions of rupees loss to PIA

PIA spokesperson said the plane has been grounded.

It is the second case of bird strike reported within 24 hours which showed the negligence of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for making effective steps to clear the surrounding areas from the garbage.