SAFA or Safety Assessment for Foreign-Origin Aircraft Awarded PIA or Pakistan International Airline achieved perfect safety ratings from European Air Safety Watchdog.
SAFA conducts periodic and surprise checks for all the non-European Airlines at different airports across the world. PIA, being under consistent scrutiny ever since the pilots’ license scandal surfaced, was subjected to extensive audit checks at most of the international airports by SAFA inspectors.
However, with no discrepancies found in the last few weeks, SAFA awarded PIA the safety hazard index of 0, which is a perfect hazard score. 3 years ago, PIA was hovering at a 3.0 safety index, which was critical from safety considerations. With a strong focus on improvement, PIA averaged at 0.5 for most of 2021. Now, with a safety index of zero, PIA is ranked among the best airlines in the world with the safest operating records.
Chief Executive Officer of PIA, Air Marshal Arshad Malik, thanked his team for working tirelessly to achieve the highest ever safety ratings. He said that we have totally restructured the Safety Department of PIA, which undertakes more stringent in-house safety checks on all its international flights.
A new safety awareness culture has been introduced in PIA whereby special emphasis and career incentives are given to people who adhere to the culture. He said that now we have offered our professional support to the regulatory authority in Pakistan as well as aiding them to clear the ICAO Audit in November of this year, paving the way for the resumption of flights to the west.
