CAA trifurcated to improve micro-level management

Notification says regulator’s functions divided into regulatory, airport and operations, and support divisions

KARACHI:

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has been divided into three divisions as part of a plan to improve the organisation’s service delivery and governance, says to a notification issued by the regulator’s Director General Ft Lt (retd) Khaqan Murtaza.

According to the notification, the new organisational structure envisaged the CAA being trifurcated regulatory, airport and operations, and support divisions, and each division would headed by an additional director general.

The CAA board had approved the separation of the CAA’s roles as a regulator and a service provider in its 184th meeting held in September last year. Following the board approval, the director general notified the changes on Tuesday.

“Accordingly, the Authority has now been transformed into three divisions namely Regulatory, Airport & Operations and Support Functions,” said the notification. “The implementation of the revised organizational structure will start immediately,” it added.

“The objective of the Functional Separation of the Authority is to ensure micro level management with intense focus on each function in pursuance of the vision and mission of the Authority while special emphasis is made on enhancing the regulatory control and making it more robust for safe and secure Civil Aviation affairs in the country.”

Following the reorganisation, new posts of the additional directors general (ADGs) and deputy directors general (DDGs) have been created. The notification said that the placement of officers on the vacant positions as per the approved structure would be carried out accordingly.

Under the reorganisation plan, each division would be headed by an ADG, who would work under the director general of the regulator. Four posts of the DDGs have also been created, who would work under their respective ADGs.

The notification came days after Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan had said the separation of CAA functions was being done in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) requirement.

The CAA has come under fire after the May 2020 Karachi plane crash in which 97 passengers and crew perished. The aviation minister had later said that hundreds of pilots in the country possessed fake licences.

Later, the European Union Air Safety Agency (EASA) imposed a ban on the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) from operating in EU member states. And last month, it retained the ban, expressing its dissatisfaction over the steps taken by the CAA to address licensing and safety concerns.