PIA Chairman Azam Saigol resigns

Days after the tragic PK-661 crash, the chairman of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has tendered his resignation, citing personal reasons for doing so.

According to the details provided, Saigol forwarded his resignation to the PIA board of governors and they accepted it, relieving Saigol of his duties. The news was confirmed by a PIA spokesman and Aviation Division.

Saigol’s resignation comes just a few days after an ATR-42 aircraft crashed into the mountains near Abbottabad, killing all 42 passengers and five crew members onboard. This disaster caused a major uproar amongst the public, who demanded strict security measures to be undertaken while flying.

So far the investigations are still going on, but according to the initial assessment, the cause of the crash was a malfunctioning engine of the plane. Since then PIA has been under fire over allegedly poor flight safety protocols.

Shortly after the crash, the PIA chairman appeared in a news conference and had contended that the crashed ATR had been declared ‘fit to fly’ and that there was nothing wrong with it when it took off. However, the investigations revealed another story.

Three days after the tragedy, another one was averted when one of the ATRs flying from Multan caught fire when it was about to take off. Thank fully the plane was still on ground and the fire brigade immediately put out the fire and evacuated the passengers.

After these incidents, PIA grounded its entire fleet of ATR aircrafts till the time a ‘thorough’ examination is completed. PIA currently owns 10 ATRs in its fleet and they usually operate between smaller cities like Chitral, Multan, Bhawalpur, Turbat, Panjgur, Zhob etc.

“In view of the Civil Aviation Authority’s decision of holding shakedown tests of PIA’s entire ATR fleet, it has been decided to keep all 10 ATR aircraft grounded till they are cleared after thorough examination,” a press release from the airline stated.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=54242

Posted by fatimaarshad on Dec 13 2016. Filed under Latest News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.