EASA warning: No airline changed flight path, says Azeem

KARACHI: A precautionary advisory issued by the European Air Safety Agency (EASA) to airlines flying over Pakistan’s airspace was not specific to just one country, said Prime Minister’s Aviation Advisor Shujaat Azeem on Friday. The warning, which was originally issued last year by the Direction Générale de L’aviation Civile (DGAC)-France, has had no effect on the air traffic, he told The Express Tribune. “I have personally spoken to both European and French authorities and their mission representatives here. They told me it was a matter of routine and it’s not an advisory specifically related to us,” he said. Since a Malaysian-registered aircraft was shot down over Ukraine in July 2014, authorities have been releasing warnings for conflict zones like Syria, Ukraine and Iraq, he said. “No airline has changed its flight path. There has been no drop in air traffic,” Azeem said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2015.