02-August-2020

PIA have announced all PIA cabin crew will have to be breathalyzed to know how much alcohol is in their blood before they are permitted to board the flight. It comes just weeks after PIA faced a scandal over pilots who had faked their way into the airline with fake licenses.

The move came after the CAA(Civil Aviation Authority) noticed smoking in the cockpit and the cabins and issued directives to ensure enforcement of SOPs against it. In a directive issued by the PIAs medical division on Friday, which came into effect immediately, all the cabin crew must undergo medical check up before boarding flights.

Many countries already enforce strict rules regarding alcohol for their pilots and cabin crew the rules is that alcohol can’t be consumed between 8 and 12 hours between flights, and they often prescribe a maximum blood concentration. In the beginning of 2020, Japan introduced strict rules making it compulsory for flight attendants to undergo pre-flight breathalyzer tests.

PIA is also banned from European and American skies. The European Air Safety Agency(EASA) has temporarily barred PIA from flying to or from the continent for six months, while the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration slapped the airline with a ‘no-fly’ order on July 15th 2020.

The breathalyzer tests will be carried out in the cabin crew briefing rooms by flight surgeon/medical officer or by medical staff supervised by the flight surgeon.