"The skies of Pakistan are receiving 700 to 730 international flights daily and there was no complaint of unservice-ability of the radar system by any international flight", AVM Safdar said while addressing a press conference at Islamabad International Airport on Thursday. He said that the CAA radar system was installed in the early 80s and it is functional with 99 percent accuracy and so far no complaint was received.
CAA is signatory to the ICAO and is following the directives to keep the system intact to avoid any incident, he said. AVM Safdar rejected the rumours regarding any calibration of the radar system saying that some news items magnified the situation. CAA has plans to replace or upgrade the radar system in coming decade and have started preparing feasibility, he said adding "it might be an effort made by the radar manufacturing companies, who approached us frequently for selling their products".
He declined to reply on the deliberations of the parliament regarding the radar of the CAA but said that CAA was ready to brief the parliament on this issue. He asked the media to present the real picture to the people to avoid confusion. It is local airlines but all international airlines entering Pakistani skies depend on the system, he said.
He said that the CAA Board has approved the restructuring of the authority and within a short span of time it would start. The board, he said has also approved to upgrade the radar system. He said that the profit of the CAA increased from Rs 5 billion to Rs 8 billion, while the passenger inflow has also increased.
Safdar said that no radar failure was reported in Foker crash in Multan. "A plane took off from airport and crashed after a few seconds, where it proves the failure of radar system", he questioned. He said that the inquiry of the crash would take some time as it is internationally set precedent that inquiries usually take 10 to 12 months.
To a question regarding the illegal entry of a passenger plane in Lahore, he said that the skies of Pakistan are in safe hands. Any plane entering the Pakistani skies come to the knowledge of the Pakistan Air Force. "We are proud of PAF as it is monitoring Pakistani skies every moment", he added.
To another question about imposition of entry fee at Islamabad airport, he said that the fee was not imposed to raise the income but to reduce the public rush at airport. Islamabad airport is running short of space as it receives 33 million people per annum, which was 3 million more than Karachi airport (30 million). He said that CAA has approved Rs 400 million to be spent on construction of additional terminal near flying club.