Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan Tuesday said 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, a private TV channel reported on Tuesday.
Speaking at a press conference at the CAA headquarters, the minister 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,” he stressed, referring to recent tensions between the two neighbouring countries.
The minister clarified that the plan of restructuring CAA is purely based on technical grounds and will 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.
Minister says the loss suffered by Indian aviation almost double
Highlighting the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the minister said 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 year 2025. “Earlier owing to open sky policy, our domestic airlines would not have space to expand their operations. Therefore, now open sky policy has been switched over to fair sky policy which offers equal opportunity to domestic air operators to grow their business,” he said.
In pursuing the New Aviation Policy, 2019 (NAP 2019), he acknowledged, the security agencies will 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.
