Yousafzai new DG CAA

Captain Nadeem Yousafzai, a former pilot of PIA, has been appointed DG of the CAA after prolonged deliberations.

KARACHI: Captain Nadeem Yousafzai, a former pilot of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), has been appointed Director General (DG) of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) after prolonged deliberations by the government. Yousafzai, who has been appointed to the post for a period of two years, replaces Air Commodore (R) Junaid Amin, whose contract expires this month.

Aviation experts believe that the present assignment will be testing for the new appointee in the presence of substantial receivables.

The immediate predicaments that the new DG will face include resolving the ongoing restructuring process within the CAA, introduction of a quality management system and other policies that were initiated by his predecessors, highlighted a CAA official.

Meanwhile, it is also expected that Yousafzai will announce a new aviation policy.

Other challenges that he will face relate to the completion of projects, for example the construction of a new airport at Islamabad and other development projects in Gilgit, Peshawar and Skardu that had been stalled after the departure of former DG CAA Farooq Rehmatullah.

The incoming DG will also have to negotiate with the labour union and the CAA Officers Association – the two bodies that were at loggerheads with the former DG.

However, CAA Officers Association Chairman Jaffar Abbas Cheema was upbeat about Yousafzai’s appointment, saying: “We expect that the new DG will catalyse positive changes in this organisation.”

Captain Yousafzai is also a former PAF officer and a graduate of Cadet College Petaro.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2010.