KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK-368, with 162 passengers on board, suffered a bird hit while taking-off and it was brought to Karachi Airport safely.
The passengers on board the plane were shifted to the lounge while the damages done to the plane’s right engine due to bird strike were being assessed, said a spokesperson of the PIA on Wednesday.
All 162 passengers would be taken to Islamabad through an alternate plane, said the spokesperson.
The spokesperson said that air safety is a joint responsibility of both institutions and society and everyone will have to play a collaborative role in this regard.
This incident occurred one day after the airline’s safety department initiated a safety awareness week.
The safety awareness week includes health, safety and environmental awareness, hygiene at the workplace, fire safety and training sessions and also safety procedures to be adopted during work, a spokesperson of the PIA had said on Tuesday.
The sessions are planned to be held for all job functions and in particular passenger handling services, technical ground support, cargo, engineering & maintenance and medical services.
A session on SAFA Awareness will also be held.
A fire extinguishing and evacuation drill and safety awareness walk is also planned during the week.
PIA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Air Marshal Arshad Malik, sharing his views on the occasion, had said that safety is PIA’s foremost priority and the safety awareness week is being conducted to further improve upon and sustain the standards.
He had said that more such training and awareness programs were being planned.
Adviser to PIA CEO AVM Amir Hayat, Captain Mohsin Ausaaf, Chief of Engineering Amir Ali, Chief Commercial Officer Ali Tahir Qasim Chief Information Officer, Khalid Barlas, senior officials of Passenger Handling Services and airline employees are participating in the Safety Awareness Week.
PIA conducts regular trainings on various safety aspects to inform and update its employees on current practices in the aviation industry.
The airline’s safety audits are conducted by international organisations.
