Why did International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) postpone the much awaited Audit of Pakistan ?

While Airlines and aviation all over the world are trying to build up amid Pandemic threat, Pakistan has a different problem , a problem that is to do with the Civil Aviation safety standard in the country.

Facing an International Ban from EASA , Pakistan is waiting for an early audit to prove its Conformances in Pakistani aviation industry, but it seems that the country has to wait more !

Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan has said that the visit by a team of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to Pakistan has been postponed owing to the coronavirus pandemic situation.

• EASA suspended PIA’s Third Country Operations Authorization for six months effective July 2020.
• Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan's statements about the fake degrees of Pakistani pilots was taken up seriously around the world , including EASA.
• EASA  still questions the oversight efficiency of  Pakistani Civil aviation regulator CAA .
• Pakistan's CAA has outsourced the Pilot's licencing process to U.K. - CAA .

ICAO audit of Pakistan, scheduled in summer 2021  will bring some hope of  lifting of  the ban , till such time, there will be  continuous technical consultations  between the two regulatory authorities to revive the confidence in pakistani CAA oversight capability. So , even if it is expected , it will be after the Summer -2021.

Talking to the media at his public secretariat here on Saturday, the minister said the ICAO team was to visit Pakistan from July 5 to 15, but it was expected to come in September/October.

“We have offered the ICAO to share the data concerned and other required things online,” Mr Sarwar said. Later, the ICAO decided to postpone the audit because the Covid-19 situation did not improve as initially expected.

However, the Pakistani Civil Aviation Authority had urged the ICAO not to postpone the visit as the Pakis­tani team would be vaccinated against Covid-19 and its team would be provided with a better atmosphere during its visit to Pakistan.

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Pakistan is ready to do more , they are taking the visiting team into confidence, the ICAO team, which comprised citizens of different nationalities, had been assured that all of the CAA officials coordinating with them during their visit would be vaccinated against Covid-19.

The ICAO’s Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme aims to promote global aviation safety through regular audits of ICAO member states to determine their ability to maintain safety oversight systems.

According to CAA, it was a regulatory audit by the ICAO in which licensing, implementation of safety-related standards or recommended practices and airworthiness are assessed.