Plan to introduce helicopter service for tourists on the anvil: CAA

ISLAMABAD: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) director general informed the Senate’s Aviation Committee on Thursday that a plan to introduce helicopter service for tourists is on the anvil.

PPP Senator Sherry Rehman, a member of the committee, asked him why a helicopter facility was not being introduced to promote tourism, to which the latter replied that a plan in this regard is in the pipeline.

CAA DG Khaqan Murtaza informed that flights to Swat’s Saidu Sharif airport were suspended due to lack of the required number of passengers. He said a mere six passengers traveled on a flight to Swat, due to which the flight operation was suspended.

To a question about the fake pilot licence scam, he said licences of 82 pilots out of 262 were declared to be bogus. The aviation committee asked him to furnish a report on the matter in next meeting.

Senator Aun Abbas was of the view that the people responsible for issuance of fake licences should have been booked under murder charges. He asked if nobody knew about pilots’ bogus licences before Ghulam Sarwar being appointed as aviation minister. He lauded the minister for holding an inquiry into the matter.

The committee directed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Air Marshal Arshad Malik to turn up along with the record of the Karachi plane crash.

The CAA secretary informed that the national flag carrier is to pay off an outstanding debt of Rs455 billion. A restructuring plan to turn the airline into a profit making entity has been forwarded to the federal cabinet, he added.