PIA, US Air Force, RAF defaulters of CAA, PAC told

ISLAMABAD: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Thursday revealed before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the authority has to recover Rs34 billion from the national flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) while Rs173.82 million from the US Air Force and Rs6.547 million from Royal Air Force (RAF).
The revelation comes on the audit para in which the department of the Auditor General of Pakistan revealed that the Civil Aviation Authority has to recover Aeronautical charges from the airlines.
The PAC meeting held here with its Chairman Syed Khursheed Shah in the chair. The audit paras relating to the Aviation Division for the financial year 2010-11 were taken up in the meeting.
Secretary Aviation Division Muhammad Ali Gardezi told PAC that the Civil Aviation Authority has to recover Rs34 billion from the PIA and the request has been made to the government to take up this matter.
Giving the background of the recovering of Rs173.82 million from the US Air Force and Rs6.547 million from RAF, Secretary Aviation Division Muhammad Ali Gardezi told the committee when the Americans launched Afghanistan Operation they were given the blanket permission to use the airspace but with the passage of time they also used the cargo operation for their troops in the Afghanistan and they used the facilities of the Civil Aviation Authority.
The secretary Aviation Division expressed their helplessness on the recovery of their dues from the PIA, US Air Force and RAF and sought PAC help to recover the amount, saying that if the amount was not recovered then the Civil Aviation Division will face serious financial crunch.However, PAC deferred the audit para till the next meeting.