LAHORE - A technical committee of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has declared 27 Passenger Boarding Bridges (PBBs) installed at different airports of the country ‘risky’ for the passengers.

An inquiry committee was constituted by the aviation division for the inspection of all PBBs installed at all the airports of the country immediately after collapse of a boarding bridge at Islamabad airport in October 2018.

In that incident a passenger was injured but plane of the foreign airline remained safe.

A senior officer of the CAA said the report has been submitted to the aviation division and keeping in view the alarming situation of the bridges the government has extended the Defect Liability Period (DLP) of the contractor of the bridges from one year to two years.

The technical committee pointed out more than 40 deficiencies in the bridges of the different airports including the need for maintenance and repair of rooftop mounting bolts and rotunda mounting bolts, cabin and tie rods, services stairs, and adjustment procedure of cabin shutters as well as rotunda shutters.

The committee directed the Karachi airport management to be extra vigilant to ensure safe operation of the PBBs till the problems are addressed.

The report made following recommendations. The tyres or tilting shafts of wheel axle, slewing bearings and crown bearings should be replaced. The gantry frame and it bolts, elevation screw or ACME nut and coupling between elevation screw and gear box are also needed.

The contractors (M/s ADELTE) should be approached for immediate redressal of the design issues and defect and deficiencies in the PBBs highlighted in report.

Defect Liability Period (DLP) of the PBB’s should be extended if the contractor fails to timely address the defects in the PBBs/systems. The contractor should ensure their regular deployment at the location to address the faults promptly during DLP period.

A committee may be constituted for review or reallocation of PBBs parking positions and achieve smooth, trouble free, safe operation as well as to increase structural life of the PBBs. The Pre Condition Air (PCA) units should be shifted on ground.

An expert third party assessment may be carried out for this purpose. During making contract documents for design, fabrication and installation of mega engineering systems, at least 1 year maintenance and operation contract with consumable items should be incorporated therein so that in-house manpower could get necessary expertise/OJT for efficient operation and maintenance of specialized equipment afterwards.

Also, a third party assessment was recommended for independent evaluation of useful life of the PBBs. For procurement and installation of mega engineering systems, the contractor should be bound for regular deployment of their skilled and technical manpower during the DLP along with sufficient spares.

Damages or penalty should be imposed in case the contractor fails to promptly address the defects and faults.

27 boarding bridges at airports declared risky