PIA suffers losses as bird strikes soar

29 bird hits in five months result in damaged aircraft, costly repairs

KARACHI:

The national flag carrier suffers loss of millions of rupees due to bird strikes—with 29 bird hits reported in the last 5 months at domestic airports alone.

According to sources in the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), ten bird strikes have been reported so far in May alone. Most of the incidents happened at Karachi and Lahore airports. Due to these strikes, seven planes were damaged.

On Wednesday morning, Flight PK-310 – an Airbus-320 flying from Karachi to Quetta – was hit by a bird immediately after takeoff. After the bird hit, the captain of the plane contacted the control tower and asked for permission to land the plane again.

After the bird strike incident, the aircraft was shifted to the hangar while the passengers were shifted to the lounge. During the examination, it was found that six blades of the plane's engine were damaged.

According to the PIA spokesperson, the passengers of the Karachi-Quetta flight were sent through an alternative flight due to the delay in the repair of the affected aircraft.

The national airline’s administration has released the statistics of bird strikes in the last five months..

In this month alone, 10 incidents have been reported at the airports of Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Sukkur, Quetta, Peshawar, Gilgit, and Multan.

Most of the bird strike incidents—16 in total—were reported at Karachi and Lahore airports. During the last five months, birds also hit PIA planes in Jeddah and Bahrain. Due to the bird strikes, seven aircraft were damaged. However, in 22 of these cases, the airplane did not suffer any damage.

Most incidents occurred during approach and landing processes; three bird strikes took place during takeoff while one incident occurred during takeoff roll.

According to the sources, the PIA has to bear heavy losses due to bird strikes as the affected planes are temporarily grounded. The passengers also face delays due to the aircraft going to the hangar for repairs. In most cases, such flights are cancelled.

Sources said that bird shooters of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) shoot birds in the airport's funnel area—the takeoff, landing site. The CAA spokesperson said the authority has issued a tender for installing modern bird repellency systems at the major airports of the country.

The spokesperson hoped that the installation phase of this system will be completed soon.

According to the spokesperson, bird shooters are deployed on a regular basis during aerial operations at the takeoff and landing points to drive away the birds.

Due to certain factors like dumping of garbage near airports, birds often hover in the airspace, and become a threat to the planes taking off and landing.

Regular banners are put up to create awareness among residents of neighborhoods close to airports. The CAA takes special measures on the occasion of Eidul Azha, he added.