Sept 28, 2021: A fresh notification issued by the CAA director general states that passenger related charges will now be collected by the authority directly from the passengers.

This decision stands for all departures from October 1, 2021 and has been issued since the beleaguered flag carrier has refused to pay CAA its dues for services the authority dispenses at the airport.

The notification read, “All passengers travelling on PIA flights are hereby informed that with effect from 01’t october, 2021 the passenger related charges (i-e Embarkation fees, Airport charges, Security charges etc) applicable on Domestic and International passengers departing on M/S PIAC, will be collected separately by CAA irrespective of whether such charges may have already been collected by M/S PIAC before this date from travelling passengers. In case of nonpayment of CAA dues, the passengers will not be allowed to travel”

Earlier this month, the heavily defaulting national airline is facing more turmoil as the CAA has threatened to directly collect all applicable airport fees from domestic and international passengers from next month.

In another punitive action, PIA will be barred from using a number of facilities, including aircraft power supply, passenger bridges and pre-conditioning facilities, beginning from November until it paid all outstanding dues to the the aviation authority.

According to the CAA, the airline had collected Rs600 million from passengers in different fees until August 31, but paid only Rs550m to the CAA. Besides, Rs400m received from travellers on other accounts has not been transferred to the CAA. This amount pertains to airport charges, security charges and embarkation fee, among others.

The CAA, which is also facing financial difficulties, said PIA had been asked to discontinue the collection of fees and charges from passengers after Sept 30 in its ticket sale.

The CAA said that in case of non-payment of CAA dues, facilities, including the common-use passenger processing system (CUPPS), baggage reconciliation system (BRS), pre-conditioning facility, avio bridges and aircraft power supply, would no longer be available to PIA from Nov 1.

The CAA said that it had been decided at a meeting on May 25 that PIACL would pay Rs150m and Rs100m on a monthly basis from May on account of dues relating to passenger-related charges and CUPPS/BRS charges, respectively.

“Up till August 31, 2021 as per commitment total payables on account of passenger-related charges were Rs600 million and CUPPS/BRS charges were Rs400 million. It is highly unfortunate that out of these payables, the PIACL has paid only Rs550 million on account of passenger-related charges and has not made any payment on account of UPPS/BRS charges till September 20,2021,” the CAA notification said.

PIACL owed Rs127.7bn to the aviation authority, it added.

On the other hand, PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan said that under a government directive, all previous liabilities of the airline, including those owed to the CAA, were frozen until PIA’s reforms and balance sheet restructuring, which had already been approved in principle by the government, were implemented.

He said that due to the situation arising out of Covid-19 and previous liabilities, PIA could not pay all the dues at once at this moment. The matter would be addressed by the government, the spokesman said.

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