Pakistan rubbishes EASA safety warnings, finds them unfounded

In response to the European Union Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) warning, the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCCA) has said that not a single passenger plane flying at low altitude at Pakistani airports has ever been hit by the saboteurs, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Monday.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued an advisory in July stating that the presence of “violent non-state actor groups with confirmed anti-aviation weaponry” in Pakistan means there is a high risk to flight operations at altitudes below Flight Level (FL) i.e. 26,000ft in Lahore and Karachi.

According to the EASA, its advisory will remain in effect till January 31, 2024.

The EASA issued this warning under Conflict Zone Information. After EASA, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom also issued low altitude warnings at Pakistani airports.

According to the PCAA, the EASA and other organizations have relayed more than 10 warnings to Pakistan since 2015.

Brushing aside these warnings, the PCAA said that as many as 396,000 international flights have landed in Pakistan since November 2022 and 379,000 domestic and international have taken off from here. But all these planes safely landed and took off while following the set flight procedure.

The PCAA further said no plane in Pakistan has ever been made a target of sabotage. The plane is put into landing gear when it’s flying at 35,000-25,000 ft altitude. Terrorists do not possess such long-distance rockets that could hit the plane flying at this altitude, the PCAA concluded.

Reporter Tayyab Saif