Disgruntled: Association fastens seat belt amid Gulf penetration

Local airlines’ pilots join hands to protest open sky policy.

KARACHI: Fearing job losses due to the increasing penetration of Gulf airlines in Pakistan, the leading association of pilots has started to approach domestic airlines and other aviation businesses to put up a fight.

Pakistan Air Line Pilots’ Association (Palpa) has invited 13 organisations including Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Shaheen Air, Airblue, Air Indus, Schon Air and flying clubs to come together for consultations, according to a letter written on August 13.

A date for the huddle has yet not been decided but, in the meanwhile, industry executives have been asked to give their feedback.

The Aviation Policy 2015, the brainchild of Aviation Advisor Shujaat Azeem’s team, has opened up the country’s airspace further for foreign airlines especially those owned by UAE states, officials said.

“Middle East airlines have been allowed to operate to Faisalabad, Multan and Sialkot. They have been given almost unrestricted access to Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad,” a disgruntled PIA official said.

Up till now, domestic airlines led by PIA, had been able to restrict the number of flights given to foreign airlines on the northern routes, including Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar.

But from June 2015, the Middle East-based carriers have been allocated more frequencies - in some cases double the previous capacity.

PIA has for decades argued that these airlines have been enjoying access to wider markets year after year but Pakistani airlines have not been allowed any concession.

“The so-called reciprocal agreements with UAE and other Gulf countries leave us at a disadvantage. Those are city states and we get rights to just a specific market or city. In return they get the entire Pakistan,” another official said.

In addition to more flights, these foreign airlines have also been permitted to use any kind of jet, which means they can sell as many seats as they want.

A senior pilot of the airline remarked that competition has been made tough for PIA at a time when the national carrier is borrowing heavily to lease jets.

“Let’s just hope they have a plan because right now all we see is confusion.”

The aviation policy has also barred Pakistani airlines from using any aircraft, which is more than 12 years old. The move has already pitted Air Indus against the Civil Aviation Authority in the shape of proceedings in the Sindh High Court.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 19^th, 2015.

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