IATA team starts PIA's operational safety audit

The team held a meeting in the morning and then visited the cargo area of Karachi airport, the report said. Albert Tjoeng, assistant director corporate communications — Asia Pacific IATA — said: “Following the accident involving PK8303, we have initiated an operational safety verification audit of the PIA. This is the standard practice after an airline experiences an accident or other serious event.” The PIA's domestic flight from Lahore to Karachi crashed in a residential area near the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi on May 22.

The Airbus A320 aircraft had 91 passengers and a crew of eight when it crashed into the Jinnah Garden area near Model Colony in Malir, minutes before its landing. A total of 97 passengers and a girl on the ground were killed in the crash, while two passengers survived.

The IATA carried out a comprehensive visit of the airport apron/ramp area where aircraft are parked, unloaded or loaded. The team remained at the apron area for more than two hours and carried out an inspection of the loading and unloading process.

Quoting sources, the report said the audit team also sought the record of the PIA’s engineering section and other relevant documents. The team is expected to carry out inspection of a PIA’s flight arriving from Islamabad or Lahore.

The IATA had designed the audit programme in 2003 to assess operational management and control systems of the airlines. After the audit, the airlines are given an operational clearance certificate. Prior to the IATA team’s visit, PIA’s Chief Executive Officer retired Air Marshal Arshad Malik had carried out an inspection of operational installations and briefed the heads of engineering, ramp service and flight safety departments about the visit of the audit team.

The IATA carries out an operational safety audit every two years. The last audit of PIA was carried out in 2018. Prior to the team's visit, the PIA management made necessary preparations and removed inoperable aircraft and equipment from the apron of Karachi's Jinnah International Air­port and also covered the debris of the PIA plane A320.