RAWALPINDI: The management of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has made it compulsory for its cabin crew to take a breathalyser test to know how much alcohol they have in their blood before they are permitted to board the flight.

In a directive issued by the PIA’s medical division, which has come into effect immediately, all the cabin crew must undergo medical check-up before boarding the flights.

The notification issued by the medical division said the test would be carried out in the cabin crew briefing rooms by flight surgeon/medical officer or the ground staff supervised by the flight surgeon.

It said all the operating cabin crews are required to undergo the test before operating flights on a “must basis”.

The move came after the Civil Aviation Authority took notice of smoking in the cockpit and the cabin and issued directives to ensure enforcement of SOPs about smoking in the aircraft.

PIA makes arrangements to repatriate Pakistanis stranded in France

Earlier, the Civil Aviation Authority used to conduct tests of pilots and cockpit crew only, and now the PIA would make it mandatory to test its air hosts as well.

Meanwhile, the PIA has made arrangements to repatriate Pakistanis stranded in France.

As part of the plan, the PIA will now operate chartered flights from Paris to Pakistan from Aug 15 to repatriate Pakistanis stranded in France.

The decision to operate chartered flights was taken in the wake of European Safety Agency’s ban on PIA flights. Now the passengers will be able to directly travel to Pakistan from France by chartered flights.

The PIA said the first special flight will be operated from Paris to Islamabad on Aug 15, while another flight for Paris will take off from Islamabad on Aug 16.

According to the flight schedule, a flight will depart for Islamabad from Paris on Aug 29 and another flight will take off for Paris from Islamabad on Aug 30.

The Islamabad airport management has taken all precautionary measures, including social distancing, to the prevent spread of coronavirus and safety of passengers.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2020