Experts point to country's poor safety record following fatal Pakistan International Airlines crash
Aviation experts have highlighted Pakistan’s poor air safety record following the Pakistan International Airlines crash in Karachi that claimed the lives of more than 100 people.
The Airbus 320 crashed into a residential area near Jinnah International Airport on Friday after witnesses watched it circle the runway three times.
A spokesman for the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority has stated that 99 passengers and eight crew were on board; just two survivors have been reported.
It is the latest in a string of disasters involving the flag carrier’s fleet, the last of which took place in 2016 when 47 people were killed after a flight from Chitral to Islamabad crashed after suffering engine failure.
“It is a terrible, terrible tragedy, and the authorities in Pakistan need to look at this very carefully in order to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Lloyd Figgins, travel risk expert and chairman of the Travel Risk Incident Prevention Group, told the Telegraph.
“Airline travel has consistently got safer and safer. When you have an incident like this you’ve got to ask why it happened, because you’re looking at an industry that has continuously improved its safety.”
The airline, which was founded in 1952, has seen 20 aircraft crash or disappear over the course of its 68-year history.
The reason for this latest incident will not become clear until an official investigation takes place, although early reports indicate the pilot had reported a problem with the plane’s landing gear as it came in to land at Karachi.
It highlights ongoing concerns regarding the danger of air travel in Pakistan, which notably came to a head in 2007 when the EU banned all but 9 of its 42 aircraft following a fatal crash in Multan that killed 45.
The ban was later lifted, although concerns remained regarding the age of aircraft, thoroughness of safety checks and quality of pilots and air controllers.
Fears resurfaced in 2013 when a PIA pilot, Irfan Faiz, was jailed in the UK after attempting to fly a jet with 156 passengers while three times over the legal alcohol limit.
“If an airline is on the EU list of banned airlines there is a reason why, and usually that is because it doesn’t conform to the safety standards we expect in Europe,” said Figgins.
“This isn’t just a PIA issue – it’s a countrywide issue that means air travel in Pakistan needs to have more rigour applied to its safety checks.”
Before the Covid-19 pandemic all but halted international air travel, the airline was operating flights to London, Birmingham and Manchester, as well as Paris, Barcelona, Milan and Oslo.
