Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Sunday sacrificed a ‘black goat’ for ‘sadqa (voluntary charity)’ near an ATR-42 aircraft after it was given clearance for take-off from the Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Rawalpindi.
According to a report in ‘Dawn’, the plane left for Mulatan after the goat sacrifice and became the first ATR-42 aircraft to be pressed into service since the start of shakedown tests initiated on all such aircrafts in the wake of an air crash near Havelian on Dec 7.
The aircrash had killed all 47 people on board, including pop singer-turned-Islamic preacher Junaid Jamshed.
"The officials sacrificed a goat yesterday as a gesture of gratitude as the ATR aircraft resumed flight operations," a PIA official said later on.
However, he added that the goat sacrifice was not a management-level decision.
The grounding of the ATR fleet had badly affected the PIA’s flights to and from cities and towns like Gwadar, Turbat, Panjgur, Moenjodaro, Zhob, Bahawalpur, D.G. Khan, Chitral and Gilgit.
The ATR 42 is a twin turboprop regional aircraft that carries 48 passengers in standard configuration. ATR aircraft are capable of operations on both paved and unpaved strips. The engines are built by US manufacturer Pratt & Whitney.
