CAA Moves Government for Renewal of PIA Licences

[Abbas Ali]

MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN

ISLAMABAD : Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) has approached the government for renewal of regular and charter licences of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) despite the fact that the airline flouted ECC direction about clearance of current applicable charges, well informed sources told Business Recorder.

Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA), sources said, has submitted a case for renewal of regular pubic transport, aerial work licence class-II( domestic/ international) and charter licence class-II( domestic/ international) of M/s Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited (PIACL) with effect from April 1, 2020 for a further period of two years. PIACL was granted renewal of its licences for a period of 01 year from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020. Subsequently, DG CAA granted extension in the validity of licences to PIACL for 120 days which is valid upto July 29, 2020.

Flight standards, airworthiness and consumer protection branch/ directorates of PCAA have no objection to the renewal of PIACL’s licences. However, Finance Directorate of PCAA has maintained that the airline has not complied with the decision of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet which required it to start clearing current applicable charges from January 1, 2019. Current PCAA dues accumulated to the tune of Rs 17.056 billion as on December 31, 2019. Further, economic oversight branch of PCAA has conveyed that the paid-up capital of PIACL is on the negative and the carrier has also failed to submit the required security deposit for the licences.

The ECC in its decision had approved freezing of outstanding dues of M/s PIACL payable to PCAA alongside late payment penalty amounting to Rs 95.796 billion as of December 31, 2018 with the direction that the applicable charges shall be payable by PIACL from January 1, 2019 onward.

Aviation Division is of the view that loss-free paid-up capital and security deposit are necessary preconditions under Article 4.3.2 of National Aviation Policy (NAP) 2019 for renewal of licences. Article 4.3.3 of NAP-2019 stipulates that the operations of a carrier shall be suspended if it defaults on outstanding dues for a period equivalent to 2 fortnightly bills, and recovery shall be made from attachment and / or sale of its tangible and intangible assets. To ensure continuity in PIACL’s operations and for renewal of its licences, it is necessary to relax the provisions of NAP-2019. While the power to renew existing licences has been delegated to Minister for Aviation, the power to relax the provisions of NAP-2019 rests with the federal cabinet as per NAP-2019, the sources added.

Aviation Division has requested federal cabinet to relax the provisions of NAP- 2019 for renewal of PIACL’s regular licence of pubic transport, aerial work licence class-II( domestic/ international) and charter licence class-II( domestic/ international) .

Source: brecorder.com

[Abbas Ali]

Renewal of PIA licenses is part of the agenda of federal cabinet meeting to be chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad on August 4.

Licences to be renewed include Regular Public Transport (RPT), Aerial Work and Charter.

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

PCAA seeks clearance of bills

Asks govt to intervene, direct PIA to pay outstanding dues worth billions of rupees

Zafar Bhutta

August 18, 2020

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) has approached the federal government, asking it to intervene and direct the national flag carrier - Pakistan International Airlines - to clear its outstanding bills in line with a decision of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC).

The ECC had approved the freezing of outstanding payments of Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited (PIACL) to PCAA along with late payment penalty at Rs95.796 billion as of December 31, 2018, with the directive that PIACL should pay the applicable charges from January 1, 2019 onwards.

However, the airline failed to start clearing the applicable charges from January 1, 2019. Current dues payable to PCAA accumulated to Rs17.056 billion as on December 31, 2019.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the issue was taken up in a cabinet meeting while considering the renewal of Regular Public Transport (RPT), Aerial Work and Charter Licences of PIACL.

The Aviation Division informed the cabinet that PCAA had submitted a case for the renewal of RPT and Aerial Work Licence Class-II (domestic/international) and the Charter Licence Class-Il (domestic/international) of PIACL with effect from April 1, 2020 for a further period of two years.

PIACL’s licences were last renewed for around one year from April 19, 2019 to March 31, 2020. Subsequently, the PCAA director general extended validity of the licences for 120 days.

Flight Standards, Airworthiness and Consumer Protection Branch/Directorates of the PCAA had no objection to the renewal of PIACL licences. However, its Finance Directorate conveyed that the airline had not complied with the ECC decision, which required it to start clearing current applicable charges from January 1, 2019.

Furthermore, the PCAA’s Economic Oversight Branch conveyed that the paid-up capital of PIACL was negative and the carrier had also failed to submit the required security deposit for the licences.

A loss-free paid-up capital and security deposit were necessary preconditions under Article 4.3.2 of the National Aviation Policy (NAP) 2019 for the renewal of licences.

Article 4.3.3 of NAP 2019 stipulates that operations of a carrier should be suspended if it defaulted on outstanding dues for a period equivalent to two fortnightly bills and recovery should be made from the attachment and/or sale of its tangible and intangible assets.

To ensure continuity of PIACL’s operations and for the renewal of its licences, it was necessary to relax provisions of NAP 2019. While powers to renew the existing licences had been delegated to the federal minister for aviation, the powers to relax provisions of NAP 2019 rested with the federal cabinet.

The Aviation Division sought approval of the cabinet for easing provisions of NAP 2019 for the renewal of PIACL’s licences. The cabinet was also requested to direct PIACL to act on the ECC’s earlier directive and clear its outstanding bills at the earliest.

The cabinet considered the summary titled “Renewal of RPT, Aerial Work and Charter Licences of Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited” and approved the proposal of Aviation Division.

Source: tribune.com.pk