Winds of change: No decision on moving CAA HQ to Islamabad: DG

Yousaf says committee constituted to look into pros and cons; hopes for turnaround with new aviation policy

KARACHI:

Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Director General Air Marshal (retired) Muhammad Yousaf said that no decision has been taken on shifting the headquarters of the aviation regulator from Karachi to Islamabad.

“I have constituted a committee comprising senior officials to look into pros and cons of this suggestion,” he said in an interview with The Express Tribune. “Let me assure you that we haven’t taken any final decision in this regard.”

Reports emerged last week that the Aviation Division, run by Prime Minister’s Advisor Shujaat Azeem, has started work on shifting CAA’s head office to Islamabad.

As a matter of fact, the DG has been working from Islamabad for the past couple of weeks, adding to anxiety of senior officials strictly against the move.

“This decision would have been taken six months ago if it were not for my efforts,” said Yousaf. “I have been trying to ensure that every transition is smooth and in the best interest of the organisation.”



Besides overlooking the country’s airspace, CAA is responsible for regulating airlines and managing over 40 airports. One of its key functions is ensuring safety of aircraft through regular inspections, which takes place mostly in Karachi.

Senior CAA officials say offices of commercial and charter airlines are located in Karachi, where necessary coordination on regulatory matters takes place.

Similarly, Air Operating Certificate (AOC) inspections, which include review of the airline’s entire infrastructure, are also carried out in the port city. Around half a dozen officials from various departments take part in these inspections.

CAA employees are also worried about the lifestyle change they and their families will have to incorporate in order to settle in Islamabad.

The aviation policy

Talking about the impact of the new aviation policy, Yousaf said the CAA wants to facilitate domestic airlines but most of them do not possess a sufficient fleet to compete with foreigners.

Poorly-capitalised Pakistani carriers do not even have enough aircraft to meet demand for international travel from smaller cities like Multan – a gap that will ultimately be filled by foreign airlines.

“Unfortunately, our airlines haven’t done well. Businessmen who started airlines in past didn’t have enough financial muscle to sustain the operation,” he said.

Yousaf was responding to questions regarding opposition of the new aviation policy from some quarters for being too liberal.

“We also have the responsibility to look after the interests of passengers,” he said, deploring the failure of domestic airlines to meet the need of international travellers.

“One of our carriers is operating with a single operating aircraft and even then it wants permission to operate international flights. How can we do that?”

Existing CAA rules say that an airline must have at least three aircraft and a year of satisfactory service on domestic routes before being allowed to fly international destinations.

While the DG did not name the particular airline, it is widely-known that he was referring to Air Indus, which started operations in 2013.

Since private investment was allowed in airlines in the early 1990s, CAA had issued over 20 licenses. But except for Shaheen Air and Airblue, none of the airlines survived what industry people regard as the most ‘capital intensive’ business.

After the war

Yousaf hopes to see a turnaround in the country’s stagnant aviation sector once the war on terror reaches its logical conclusion.

“As a matter of fact, we should start working on fixing our tourism infrastructure,” he said. “Pakistan has a lot of places where foreign tourists would love to go if not for the fear of terrorism.”

Even domestic tourism has not taken off as it should have, he conceded. “We have over 40 airports but only 26 of them are operational because there is hardly any traffic.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18^th, 2015.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.