ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) said Thursday that it was investigating emailed threats that said two of its planes had bombs on board, forcing one of them to divert abruptly to Istanbul.

PIA said it received two emails late Wednesday claiming there were bombs on the two flights and directed the pilots to land immediately at the nearest airports. No bombs were found on either plane.

“The safety department of the airline is conducting the investigation into the emails…but there is no outcome so far,” PIA’s director of flight operations, Naveed Aziz, told AFP.

“They are also coordinating with the Airport Security Force (ASF) and other agencies responsible for safety, but are yet to reach any conclusion.”

A senior PIA official who requested anonymity said computer experts at the airline and security forces were carrying out the inquiry.

“This is a serious matter and if not nipped in the bud such hoax emails in future could damage our reputation and bring a bad name for our country internationally,” the official told AFP.

The first plane had departed Lahore, bound for the British city of Manchester, when it was diverted to Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport, causing panic among the 378 passengers, airport authorities and Turkish media reported.

The passengers were evacuated from the aircraft and sniffer dogs searched the Boeing 777-300 EA for three hours before the bomb threat was declared a hoax.

A second flight from Lahore landed safely at its planned destination in Kuala Lumpur after a threat was received while it was mid-air.

A search of that aircraft found no explosive devices on board.

“We cannot ignore such threats, we are looking into the matter,” said a spokesman for the civil aviation authority, Pervez George.

An airport security official said safety restrictions had been tightened at Pakistani airports following the hoax. Source (dawn.com)

An aircraft of the national flag carrier that had been detained at a French airport owing to safety reasons — citing some 39 faults/ snags including fuel leakage — arrived in the city on Monday.

According to sources, PIA’s Airbus A 310 (number AP BGO) was returning home from Milan via Paris on Tuesday and when it landed at Charles de Gualle airport the European aviation inspectors checked it and detected almost 40 snags in it and directed the crew to offload the passengers, and the aircraft was detained there.

Another PIA aircraft that was returning from the United Kingdom was diverted to France to bring the stranded passengers back home.

The snags pointed out by SAFA inspectors included one panel right of NLG door bent; right fairing (inlet) cracked and bent; one latch on each engine closed by lock wire; fuel leakage on the Engine 2 pylon at the end of refueling; hydraulic leak from steering actuator; fuel leakage from the Engine 1 pylon, both wing root and horizontal stabilizer; on right wing root external one thermal protector tightened up with locking wire; engine No 2 inboard fire seal damaged; temporary repair performed on Engine No 1 fire seal outboard; hydraulic seepage on wheel No 1 brake assembly; the list of snags goes on and on.

One of the snags that the inspectors have pointed out relates to the crew’s lack of efficiency as it said “crew not able to manage a quick and correct emergency evacuation of the aircraft on the fireman request, passengers (95) disembarking with luggage. Evacuation took place 20 minutes after the fireman request,” said the aviation regulator.

Sources in PIA’s engineering department insisted that these were minor snags and the aircraft should not have been detained in France.They also said that the management had increased the number of flights owing to which aircraft remained on ground for a very little time. Besides, the engineering department was at the old airport, while the aircraft came to the Jinnah Terminal. So very little time was available for maintenance. Nevertheless, if there was a major problem, it was sorted out before the aircraft was allowed to fly.

Responding to Dawn queries, PIA spokesperson Mashhood Tajawar said the aircraft had no major snag and was held at Paris for minor faults. He said this plane had been flying to and from Europe regularly and even on this flight it had flown from Milan before landing at Paris.

He said earlier, too, the authorities had held a PIA plane in Paris for similar minor faults. He said it was not clear why the Paris authorities were doing such things to PIA while many aircraft of African countries — having much more serious issues — also arrived there.

He said a PIA team had been sent there to contest the issue with the European authorities.

Responding to Dawn queries, Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson Pervaiz George said CAA inspectors checked the aircraft regularly and the faults for which the aircraft was held at Paris might have developed after it flew out from here.

He also insisted that the CAA put full emphasis on air safety and security.

Bird hit

A PIA Jumbo 747 — with over 450 Umrah pilgrims — that was hit by a bird while taking off from Karachi airport on Sunday morning, returned to the terminal, was repaired and had its engine changed. The passengers were sent by another aircraft in the afternoon.

Another PIA flight (PK 207 — Airbus A 310) that had flown from Karachi airport on Monday morning had to return after it developed some faults in its wings. Its over 150 passengers were sent by another aircraft at 4pm. After flying for around 10 to 15 minutes when the pilots tried to retract its leading edge flaps — that are used to manoeuvre the aircraft — he found that they were jammed. He returned to Karachi to get the aircraft repaired.

According to the PIA spokesperson, the flight could have gone to Dubai for repairs but it was not sure if Dubai had such facilities.

Delays

Delays in PIA flights have become almost a routine matter. Some of the flights were delayed up to 17 hours on Monday.

Some of the flights that had been delayed are as follows:

The Karachi-Madinah flight PK 743 that was to fly at 6.25pm on Monday had been delayed for almost 11 hours and now it was scheduled to leave on Tuesday at 5am.

PIA’s Karachi-Jeddah flight PK 7649 that had to fly at 2am on the night between Sunday and Monday had been delayed for over 17 hours and it left at 7pm on Monday.

Mr Tajawar said these delays had been caused by extra flights the airline was operating to cater to the Umrah rush. The grounding of a Jumbo for around a day owing to a bird hit had also contributed to the delays.

He said PIA chief Nadeem Yusufzai had ordered an inquiry into the delays.

RAWALPINDI, Aug 12: A passenger onboard a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight from Multan to Islamabad was slightly injured when the aircraft encountered turbulence on Friday, sources said.

The plane hit an “air-pocket”, causing it to drop several hundred feet before landing at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport.

One of the passengers, Mohammad Noor Deen, a resident of Multan, was injured when he was thrown out of his seat – L-49 – as he had not fastened the seatbelt. His head hit the sideboard.

However, everybody else onboard remained unhurt.

After the plane safely landed, the injured passenger was given treatment. Later, he was allowed to continue his onward journey for performing Umra.

Another passenger, who insisted on anonymity, said it was very scary as the plane hit the air pocket.

When the spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was contacted, he declined to comment

KARACHI: The Joint Action Committee of PIA Employees (JACPIAE) has expressed its reservations on the code-sharing agreement between Pakistan and Turkey as Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) would suffer financial losses on the routes given to it, a statement said.

JACPIAE spokesman said that PIA employees were bewildered as after the code-sharing agreement, Turkish Airline would operate four flights from Istanbul-Karachi-Dhaka and three flights from Istanbul-Islamabad, whereas PIA would operate four flights from Pakistan-Istanbul and three flights from Pakistan-Ankara.

The Ministry of Defence and the Civil Aviation Authority did not consider the national airline’s interest in this code-sharing, which was evident from the two-way flights of Turkish Airline for Dhaka on which it was getting sufficient number of passengers, but on the other hand, PIA was unable to take advantage of the said code-sharing agreement, he said.

Though the new code-sharing was different from the agreement made by the former PIA management in which it handed over all routes to Turkish Airline, but in this code-sharing agreement, PIA would operate the same number of flights as Turkish Airline, the spokesman said.

He also said that Islamabad-Abu Dhabi-Istanbul was not profitable due to less number of passengers on the route as no deliberation was done by the marketing department of PIA about the passenger load and to make the said route profitable and viable, eventually PIA had to shut down the route.

He suggested that PIA should find new profitable routes in Europe via Istanbul/Ankara through code-sharing agreement like Turkish Airline had done and was operating Dhaka via Karachi. (source: thenews.com.pk)

Become a travel agent in the UK
Interested in running your own PIA travel agency?

About Mushtaq Travel……

Mushtaq Travel started business in 1981, now 30 years on it is one of Derby’s leading independent flight only travel agent. Over the years we have embraced a business philosophy emphasising the importance of quality, integrity and individual character, We have been seeking creative ways to make international connections that contribute significantly to a positive quality business environment for all.

Support and training provided…

Most of your business will come from your own local area and consist of mainly walk in customers, you will be responsible for distributing leaflets and running promotions for your business in your local area, you will also benefit from our online presence and our TV advertising.

We will provide you with a fully functioning reservations systems including a booking and tracking system and set up and advise you about your online advertising. We will work with you to optimise your web site to ensure visibilty in the search engines to get your business noticed locally and even nationally!

We will advise you on all aspects including setting up bank accounts to obtaining a merchant facility for credit/debit card processing.

Initial Training

1 week training at your new office location or our head office location during which you will learn all aspects of running your own retail travel agency

This will include:

• 2-3 days training using the GDS booking system
• Understanding how it works
• Learning how to manage it on a daily basis
• 2 days of actual on the job experience interacting with your customers making real bookings / reservations and knowing the processes involved with the business.

Some Key Benefits:

• You will have your own gds system, book and manage your own customers
• 24/7 Access to fares
• 24/7 Access to ticketing facility
• Your own branding on reservations and etickets
• Credit/Debit card facility
• Office telephone systems
• Networked computer environment in your office
• Leaflets, flyers, banners bespoke designed and printed
• approved counter feit money counter machine
• Digital CCTV with 24/7 recording
• Access to industry training and qualifications, and much much more….

Ongoing Support

After the week you should be well educated on all aspects of running the business from actual experience.

Ongoing support will be available via email or phone and we will continue to support you as you develop your own business.

Along with our web design team who will provide ongoing  solutions to your website to increase your website visibility to the search engines.

We are currently looking into the financial investment requirements and will advise you in due course, we intend to keep costs to a minimum if you have any suggestions in the meantime please feel free to post your comments below or get in touch with us by email ( sales@mushtaqtravel.co.uk)