LAHORE, May 23: The United Kingdom (UK) environment authorities have served three show-cause notices on PIA for violating noise limits by its three flights.

The Environment Services Officer issued a show-cause notice to the PIA station manager at Manchester Airport, stating that on March 10, 2011, flight PK-702, from Manchester to Islamabad, exceeded its “Nighttime noise limit of 83dB(A) as the recorded level was 90.4dB(A)”.

The officer also issued two more notices to the national airline on April 17 and 20, this year, respectively, regarding the same issue of exceeded 'noise limit' by its flights PK-702. All three flights reportedly crossed the noise limits and the problem was detected by the environment authority.

According to aviation sources, the violation of noise limit occurs owing to “substandard maintenance of aircraft”.

The European Union (EU) has introduced strict laws aimed at minimising inconvenience to its citizens. It has great emphasis on air travel as air traffic operation near cities causes environment pollution as well noise pollution.

They say if the violation continues, it may lead to “heavy penalty and even suspension of PIA flights” to the region.

In 2007, the EU had banned most of the PIA aircraft from flying to destinations in the 27-nations bloc because of safety concerns. Of the 42-plane fleet, only seven Boeing-777s were exempted from the ban.

When contacted, a PIA spokesman said the issuance of notices by the UK authorities was not in his knowledge. “However, PIA flights do not exceed the noise limits,” he added.