Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority Introduces New Guidelines To Prevent Boarding Denials

Pakistan: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has introduced new guidelines to tackle complaints regarding boarding issues related to Passenger Number Record (PNR) details, ARY News reported. In recent guidelines, the CAA has decided that no passenger will be denied boarding due to disagreements in PNR at the time of ticket booking and travel.
According to ARY News, the CAA took the decision after numerous complaints from passengers who were denied boarding because their PNR details differed between booking and travel. The CAA has issued directives to all airlines to ensure that passengers are not stopped from boarding on the basis of PNR discrepancies, as per ARY News.
According to the CAA’s guidelines, airlines are now required to strictly adhere to this directive. The CAA has also mandated that airlines update their PNR policies on their websites, ensuring transparency and preventing future inconveniences for passengers.
Additionally, travel agents have been instructed to comply with these policies during the booking process, thereby reducing the likelihood of passengers facing issues at the time of boarding.
Meanwhile, according to the recent reports, the privatisation process of the debt-ridden Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will be completed by October 1, Privatisation Commission Secretary Usman Akhtar Bajwa told Senate Standing Committee on Privatisation, Dawn reported. Bajwa said that the PIA’s deficit had reached Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 500 billion, Dawn reported.
“Whoever buys the PIA will also have to clear liabilities of PKR 200 billion and spend PKR 400 million on ship repairs and other issues,” Dawn quoted Bajwa as saying. He said that six companies were finalised for the PIA bid: Fly Jinnah, Air Blue, Arif Habib Corporation, YB Holdings, Pak Ethanol, and Blue World City, Dawn stated.
Bajwa stated that Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif did not want to postpone the process further. “We are trying not to let the date exceed,” Dawn reported quoting Bajwa.