UK aviation team concludes Pakistan visit

Staff Writer

Islamabad: Experts from the UK State Safety Partner­ship (SSP) team, funded by the UK Depart­ment for Transport, concluded their 12-day visit yesterday to share best practice on air safety performance and build relationships with the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority.

The visit was funded by the UK as part of its ongoing support to the Pakistan Civil Avia­tion Authority on safety performance.

During the two-week visit, the UK SSP team worked closely with the Pakistan Civ­il Aviation Authority and industry to lay the foundations for long-term collabora­tion on safety performance.

While the support of the SSP team will not directly lead to the removal of Pakistan from the UK Air Safety List, the programme is designed to support Pakistan’s authori­ties to implement steps to achieve this.

Andrew Dalgleish, Chargé d’Affaires at the British High Commission Islamabad, said: “Direct flights between the UK and Pa­kistan are a helpful channel for businesses and people to people contact – the British High Commission understands how im­portant this is for Pakistani airline compa­nies. This visit and ongoing support signify our commitment to help the Pakistani au­thorities achieve this for the benefit of the citizens of both the UK and Pakistan.” Cur­rently, all air carriers certified by the Paki­stan Civil Aviation Authority remain on the UK’s Air Safety List due to safety concerns.