This is with reference to Gul Zaman’s letter “Closure of Lahore runway” (04 Sep). CAA have always welcomed criticism and have responded positively to the suggestions that could contribute for the betterment of the organization. Unfortunately, lack of knowledge on the part of people results in misunderstanding. As far as Airblue and Bhoja Air crash investigations are concerned, they have been undertaken strictly according to ICAO requirements in most transparent manner.
Regarding ATR incident at Lahore Airport that took place on 31 August, 2012, at 1510 hours, and resulted in blockage of runway for few hours. This must be made clear that PIA’s ATR never skidded of the runway but it was a short landing by the pilot that resulted in this accident.
CAA immediately sent its fire and rescue vehicles and passengers were disembarked safely. Removal of ATR aircraft or for that matter any other aircraft from the runway is the responsibility of operator and not CAA. Since rescue apparatus was not available with the operator at Lahore Airport, it had to be transported from Karachi and hence the delay. It is incorrect to suggest that Lahore runway remained closed for 30 hours, in fact traffic was regulated through parallel runway and the blocked runway was cleared for traffic at 1920 hours just after over four hours.
It is the prerogative of the government to appoint various heads of organizations throughout Pakistan and abroad and CAA is not an exception. It would have been more appropriate if the writer had not indulged in uncalled for remarks about DG CAA, CFO of CAA and various retired officers. CAA is continuously engaged in improving upon the facilities at all the airports in Pakistan. Let us not settle personal scores under the cover of incidents.
PERVEZ GEORGE
Public Relations Manager, CAA