CAA set to start night-time operations at Peshawar airport

PESHAWAR: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is set to restore night-time operations from the Bacha Khan International Airport as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has agreed to allow night-time landing at the airport.

The chief minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is pleased to allow resumption of night landing at Bacha Khan International Airport with immediate effect. You are therefore requested to take further necessary action in this regard, it was mentioned in an official notification that Chief Minister Mahmood Khan wrote to the director general CAA on March 27.

The CAA had ceased night-time operations from the airport following firing on Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Boeing PK-756 on June 24, 2014, by unknown miscreants before it was preparing for landing. A woman was killed while two flight stewards had suffered bullet injuries. The aircraft was arriving from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia with 196 passengers on board when it was attacked.

The KP government had asked the federal government to stop night landing at the airport following the firing incident. The government had later restored flying operations from the airport but kept the airport closed for night-time landing.

After improvement in security, the KP government has allowed the CAA to start flight operations from the airport during the night, said an official of the CAA on condition of anonymity. The KP government conducted several operations and built towers and observation posts in the area suspected to be a potential security threat.

According to official sources, the people, business community as well as airline authorities wanted the government to resume night-time landing at the airport. After these positive developments, the CCA wrote to the KP government to allow them to resume night-time landing.

The government after consultation and seeking feedback from civil and military security agencies allowed the CAA to resume night-time landing after making necessary arrangements, said an official of the civil aviation.

According to sources, the CAA a month ago had decided to start night landing from the airport but it was decided that the landing would be permissible only up to 10pm. The officials said that besides the PIA, a number of international airlines were eager to increase their flights and start night operations if the government withdrew the restrictions on night landing. Presently, eight to nine international flights land at the airport in Peshawar during the daytime.

The permission by the KP government to resume night landing will help restore all business and commercial activities at the airport, he hoped. The PIA geared up its operations from the Bacha Khan International Airport recently and started two international flights from Al-Ain and Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Manager at the Bacha Khan International Airport, Obaidur Rahman Abbasi confirmed that the KP government had allowed resumption of night landing. We have received a copy of the notification from the KP Home and Tribal Affairs Department. We are ready to resume night landing operations, but officially Civil Aviation Authority DG will advise us on resuming the operations, he said.

The previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government had spent enough funds on renovation and expansion of the airport. The expansion of lounges and installation of new gadgets have enabled the staff to handle 2,500 passengers at a time. Previously, there was limited space for 500 passengers only.