Islamabad

The national flag carrier of Pakistan, PIA, issued compliance orders to its pilots and cabin crew personnel. The order bars them from observing fasts during the ongoing holy month of Ramadan on the days of their duties.

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The airline cited a medical guideline stating that fasting can lead to dehydration and issues of laziness and sleep.

The Corporate Safety Management and Air Crew Medical Centre recommended that PIA pilots and cabin crew members should not observe fasts while on duty for international or domestic flights.

“The PIA's top management, based on these recommendations, has issued compliance orders to the pilots and cabin crew personnel with immediate effect,” an official of the ailing airline said.

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“The recommendations have specifically stated that when a person is fasting, he faces dehydration and issues of laziness and sleep,” the official added.

The directive comes after a probe team of the Aircrafts Investigation Board concluded its investigation into an accident of a PIA Airbus flight which crashed in a crowded neighbourhood of a housing society near the Karachi Airport in May 2020.

The team attributed the mishap to human errors.

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The board stated that the primary cause of the fatal incident, that claimed the lives of 101 people onboard the flight, was the lack of sound judgement by the two pilots during the landing.

Miraculously two of the passengers survived.

Also read: Pak court allows Imran Khan to meet party lawyers at Adiala jail: Report

The report also held responsible the PIA and the Civil Aviation Authority over the lack of clear procedures on whether pilots should observe fasts while on duty during the holy month of Ramadan.

The PIA management, in its directive, clarified that pilot or crew members observing fast would be barred from boarding the flight.

Last week, Pakistan's new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, as per several local media reports approved the privatisation of PIA before June 15.

In the year 2022, PIA ranked as Pakistan's third-highest public sector loss-making commodity, demanding Pakistani Rs 11.5 billion per month in order to service its debts, reported the Express Tribune newspaper.

(With inputs from agencies)