Senior officers of different departments of the CAA continued to protest against their top boss for “use of improper and derogatory language” with them.
Sources in the PM Office told The Express Tribune that Premier Abbasi took stock of the situation after receiving reports that ongoing protests by the CAA officers could result in the disruption of flight operations at Pakistan’s major airports causing huge losses to the national exchequer.
Subordinates complain against CAA chief
The PM, while chairing a meeting, discussed various options to tackle the situation. The meeting was attended by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Aviation Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan, Secretary Aviation Irfan Elahi and senior officials of the CAA and the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
Interestingly, the CAA DG and his second-in-command, Additional DG Air Vice Marshal Usaidur Rehman Usmani, were not present at the meeting, said official sources. Both the officers were not called to attend the meeting, they added.
Deputy Director General of Airport Services Syed Amir Mehboob represented the CAA in the meeting also attended by PM’s spokesman Musadik Malik.
“Protest of the CAA personnel against their top bosses is a serious matter. The CAA is a profitable organisation that contributes billions of rupees to the national exchequer annually, but there are sensitivities attached to commercial aviation operations,” said the sources.
“If the protests continue and flight operations of local and foreign airlines are disrupted, things can reverse and losses can run into millions… even billions. The situation needs to be responded to on an urgent basis,” the sources added.
The PM has directed the aviation adviser to tackle the situation by holding dialogues with the aggrieved officers.
CAA staff complains boss is ‘deranged’
According to the sources, in case of continued protests, the government might consider other options, including the removal of the DG and the additional DG and assign the aviation adviser to directly oversee the aviation matters till the appointment of a regular DG. Other options include assigning the CAA board to run the affairs under the chair of the CAA secretary in his official capacity as CAA board chairman till the appointment of a regular DG. The PM may also consider directly appointing CAA DG for one to three years without considering the previous two options.
“Options have to be exercised if the situation does not improve,” the sources said.
The PM, a qualified commercial pilot himself who has been associated with the aviation industry for decades and who currently owns the private airline Airblue, wants to take timely steps to avoid any ‘disaster’, according to them.
“Based on his sound understanding and experience of the aviation sector, the PM is fully cognisant of the challenges that may surface if the crisis at the CAA is not responded to on time,” the source claimed.
An official statement from the PM Office, however, simply mentioned that PIA’s proposed business plan and ‘issues concerning the aviation sector’ were discussed at the meeting, without elaborating on the details of the relevant issues.
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