Senate body advises CAA to finalise draft Aviation Policy
By Asghar Ali Mubarak

ISLAMABAD—Senate Standing Committee on Defence and Defence Production on Wednesday directed the Ministry of Defence and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to finalize the new draft Aviation Policy before the end of this year in consultation with all stakeholders.
The committee which met at the Parliament House here under the Chairmanship of Senator Nisar A. Memon said that the focus of the new policy must be on qualitative improvement, ensuring greater passenger safety and comfort along with better facilities at the airports.
“Those formulating the new policy must have an eye on international standards and they must strive to replicate and
emulate the best practices here to facilitate our own people”, it added.The new policy should not only ensure a fair and healthy competition among the airlines but also endeavor to meet global standards with regard to passenger safety and
comfort, the meeting stressed.
The Senate body also called upon the government to undertake rationalization of taxes on air travel, which it feels are presently too high and discouraging the people from middle and lower income groups.The committee asked PIA to furnish a complete and comprehensive report of damage assessment to the Airlines as a result of the ban placed on its planes by the EU and explain the reasons as to why the CAA and PIA responded so late to the deficiencies pointed out by the EU and why they did not try to over come and rectify those in the first instance.
It asked whether the Airlines had fixed the responsibility and ensured that these sorts of things would not happen again.The members of the Committee, by and large expressed their dissatisfaction over the facilities presently available at the airports saying that these are sub-standards and need much improvement. “Passenger lounges are not up to the mark, the staff deputed at the airports is generally not very cooperative and courteous, cleanliness also leaves a lot to be desired, similarly no body cares for passengers, who are stranded at the airports in case of cancellation of flights”, they maintained.
Earlier, the Director General, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Farooq Abdullah gave a detailed presentation to the Committee on the Aviation Policy being pursued by the Government. He said it aims at ensuring safe and efficient Civil Aviation operations in the country in conformity with ICAO standards. It also strives for improving terminal facilities and removing bottlenecks for passengers,making Pakistani airports passenger-friendly besides promoting and encouraging tourism in the country.
He said that our vision is a progressive, liberalized and efficient aviation sector based on competition and fair opportunities, regulated to safeguard public and national interest, provide impetus to national economy and to achieve international standards of safety and security.