PIA owed Rs22b to CAA, PAC panel told

Several airlines, including the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), owed a cumulative sum of Rs25 billion to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) under the head of aeronautical charges, audit officials told a subcommittee of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Friday.

The subcommittee met here with its convener Raja Riaz in the chair. Aviation Division officials said that PIA alone owed Rs22 billion aeronautical charges, which the CAA was unable to collect from the national flag carrier because of various reasons.

The meeting was held to review the audit objections of the Aviation Division. Audit officials said that by 2014, aeronautical charges worth more than Rs25 billion were owed by 294 operators. They added that the amount included Rs22 billion owed by the PIA alone and Rs3 billion by foreign airlines.

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About the recoveries from the PIA, the officials said that in 2018, the cabinet froze all the arrears of the PIA amounting to Rs96 billion, including the aeronautical charges of Rs22 billion. They added that there was litigation on Rs459 million, while some airlines had become inactive since then.

When asked about the efforts for the recovery of the amount at the embassies level, the CAA said that the United States had told them to adjust the amount in the money given to Pakistan under the Coalition Support Fund. The officials said that matter was being taken up with the Foreign Ministry.