Ramzan 2024: Pakistan International Airlines bars fasting for pilots, flight attendants on duty. Here is why

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Ramadan. This decision is based on medical advice, which highlights the risks of dehydration, fatigue, and reduced alertness associated with fasting while performing operational duties. Pilots and cabin crew members have been instructed not to observe fasting while on duty for both international and domestic flights.

Both the Corporate Safety Management and Air Crew Medical Centre have recommended Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) that pilots and cabin crew members should refrain from fasting during flights. “The PIA’s top management, based on these recommendations, has issued compliance orders to the pilots and cabin crew personnel with immediate effect," an official of the airline said as quoted by news agency PTI. “The recommendations have specifically stated that when a person is fasting, he faces dehydration and issues of laziness and sleep," the official said.

Also Read: CAA to grant citizenship to 6 religious minorities from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh: 5 facts explained Last month, the investigation report on the Pakistan International Airlines plane crash near Jinnah International Airport in May 2020, which claimed the lives of 101 people, including 99 passengers, concluded that “human error" by the two pilots was the cause of the incident. The report had also held the PIA and the Civil Aviation Authority responsible for not having clear procedures on whether pilots should fast during the month of Ramadan while on duty. The board held the failure of proper judgement by the two pilots while landing as the main reason for the fatal crash.