Pakistan's PIA bars pilots, cabin crew from fasting during Ramzan while on duty

Karachi: Pakistan's national flag carrier, PIA, has barred its pilots and flight attendants from fasting during the ongoing holy month of Ramzan on their on-flight duty days, citing a medical recommendation which says a person faces dehydration and issues of laziness and sleep while observing a fast.

The Corporate Safety Management and Air Crew Medical Centre have both recommended that pilots and cabin crew members of Pakistan International Airlines should not fast during 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.

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

Because of these recommendations, pilots and cabin crew members have been told not to fast when they are on duty for international or domestic flights.

A probe team of the Aircrafts Investigation Board, which last month released its findings 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, blamed it on human errors.

The board held the failure of proper judgement by the two pilots while landing as the main reason for the fatal crash in which 101 people, including 99 passengers onboard the flight, were killed while two of the passengers miraculously survived.

The report also held the PIA and the Civil Aviation Authority responsible for not having clear procedures on whether pilots should fast during the month of Ramzan while on duty.

The PIA management in its orders made it clear if any pilot or crew member was fasting, he or she would not be allowed to board the flight.

Pakistan's new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last week approved the privatisation of the country's ailing national flag carrier PIA before June 15, according to media reports.

In 2022, PIA stood as the country's third-highest public sector loss-making entity, requiring Pakistani Rs 11.5 billion per month solely for servicing its debts, the Express Tribune newspaper reported.

According to the PIA’s financial report, the airline suffered a loss of Rs 60.71 billion in the first six months of 2023 because of the depreciation of the rupee against the USD.