Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), the country's main airline is once again in hot waters as the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) froze its account on the basis of non-payment of more than Rs 2 billion in taxes, according to ARY News.  In January last year, the FBR had frozen 53 bank accounts of the PIA after it was found to be a tax defaulter of Rs 26 billion. However, those bank accounts were restored after PIA assured them of early clearance of the taxes.  According to sources, PIA owed about Rs 2.8 billion to the FBR in taxes. However, the airline claims its dues amount to around Rs 1.3 bn, reported Dawn. Moreover, Pakistan State Oil (PSO) also denied providing fuel for three PIA aircraft which interrupted the scheduled flights including PK-309 Islamabad-Karachi, PK-330 Karachi-Multan and PK-739 Multan-Jeddah, reported ARY News.   The spokesperson of PIA said that they are contacting FBR on the government level for the restoration of the accounts, ARY News reported.  He further said that the bank account closure will not affect the PIA's flight operations.   However last week, according to The News International, PIA reached a point where it needed money from the national fund to operate for even one day. The government was thinking of bringing in specialists to draw a time-bound restructuring plan through shadow management in light of the total accumulated losses, which have exceeded PKR 600 billion.  Additionally, the officials wondered how long a PIA that is operating at a loss would continue to operate and added that first and foremost, leaks needed to be sealed, a reorganization plan needed to be created with deadlines, and the major functions needed to be gradually privatized. Earlier, the board of directors of the country's main airline PIA failed to make a decision on employees' pay raise due to financial hardships, according to ARY News.  Moreover, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) team will arrive in Pakistan for a physical audit in September.  Source: ANI

The Shiveluch volcano in Russia's Far East has blown an ash column about 10 kilometers high, threatening aviation. Shiveluch last had a major eruption in 2007. The Shiveluch volcano in Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula erupted early on Tuesday and sent up an ash plume 10 kilometers (six miles) high into the air, posing an increased threat to air traffic, the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) said. The team issued a code red Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation, noting that ash explosions 15 kilometers (9.32 miles) high could occur at any time.  "Ongoing activity could affect international and low-flying aircraft," it said. The ash cloud following the eruption drifted to the west and south and measured 400 by 270 kilometers, the Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Survey of the Russian Academy of Sciences said on Telegram. Russian media reports indicated the ash cloud was continuing to spread. Kamchatka has about 160 volcanoes Local authorities closed schools and ordered residents in nearby villages to stay indoors, head of the Ust-Kamchatsky municipal region Oleg Bondarenko said in a Telegram post. The peninsula in the north Pacific Ocean has about 160 volcanoes, but only about two dozen of them are active. UNESCO lists the Volcanoes of Kamchatka as a World Heritage Site. One of Kamchatka's largest and most active volcanoes, Shiveluch has had an estimated 60 substantial eruptions in the past 10,000 years, the last major one being in 2007.

Despite good progress, the aviation sector has still not achieved gender parity, and it is considered even unusual to find women from the Muslim community as pilots, but this trend is slowly getting brushed off, as several names are changing the perception. Although there is still a long way to go in achieving gender parity in the aviation sector, the industry is opening up for women pilots, as in recent years more and more airlines and aviation organizations have been actively recruiting and supporting women pilots. For example, in 2018, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) launched the "25by2025" initiative, which aims to increase the number of women in senior leadership positions and in the aviation industry overall to 25 per cent by the year 2025. Many airlines have also launched initiatives to increase the number of female pilots in their ranks, such as easyJet's Amy Johnson Initiative and Qantas' 'IATA Diversity & Inclusion Awards' program. Furthermore, there are now many organizations and networks that support women in aviation, such as Women in Aviation International, the Ninety-Nines, and the International Society of Women Airline Pilots. These organizations provide mentorship, networking opportunities, and support for women pilots and other aviation professionals. The one place where it was considered surprising to see Muslim women, was as pilots. But, even this is now fast becoming a trend for women of Islamic heritage. There have been several Muslim women who have made their mark in the aviation industry. For example, India witnessed three Indian Muslim female pilots as early as the twentieth century - Abida Sultan, Begum Hijab Imtiyaz Ali, and Zeenat Harooon Rasheed. India has always remained a progressive nation. Right from the very beginning, both males and females have achieved great heights in many fields. Abida Sultan, the first female Indian Muslim pilot was the eldest daughter of the Last Nawab of the princely state of Bhopal, Haji Nawab Hafiz also known as Hamidullah Khan. Abida was born in August 1913, and died at the age of 88 in May 2002. Right from her childhood, she was extremely fond of flying planes and her dream turned into a reality after she successfully got her license to fly a plane in the late 1920s, making her the first female Indian pilot. Abida took training to fly planes from the Bombay flying club and Calcutta flying club. Sultan had hobbies that were unusual among the women of her era. She loved driving cars as a pastime. It is said that Begum Hijab Imtiyaz Ali was the first Indian female pilot of the British Empire. She belonged to an extremely progressive family that allowed her to pursue her dream even after getting married and having a daughter. Hijab was an excellent writer too. She wrote multiple stories and remained an editor of a magazine, Tehzeeb-e-Nizwaan. Zeenat Haroon Rasheed, daughter of Sir Abdullah Haroon, a well-known politician of British India, who made major contributions towards developing and defining the role of Muslims in economics, was one of the first pilots of British India and one of the forty-nine women to have organized an association of the Australian Women Pilots during early 1951. Now, Syeda Salva Fatima is one of the four Muslim women in India who hold a Commercial Pilot's Licence (CPL). After her multi-engine training in New Zealand and type-rating in Bahrain, this Hyderabad woman was endorsed by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) which enabled her to fly the Airbus A320. The daughter of a bakery worker, Syeda comes from the poverty-stricken neighbourhood of Sultan Shahi in the old city of Hyderabad. What makes Syeda's story stand out is her lower middle-class background and the fact that she wore a hijab during the entire course of training in India and abroad. Saarah Hameed Ahmed is an Indian pilot from Bangalore, Karnataka. As of March 2015, she worked for SpiceJet. According to Ahmed's father, in the traditional community in which she was raised, a woman's responsibility is to her home and children, with few seeking outside jobs without an escort. Ahmed did not initially receive support within the community and her family tried to discourage her. But they relented when she insisted and a friend of her father's who is a pilot with Southwest Airlines offered reassurances. After a year of study and logging 200 flight hours, Ahmed received her commercial pilot's license in 2008. She returned to India and undertook the process to convert her license to an Indian certification, which required both a waiting period and additional training in Lithuania to learn about specific commercial aircraft types. However, Muslim women may face several challenges in the aviation sector. For example, they may face discrimination, hatred and negative perceptions about women wearing hijab. They may also be concerned about their personal safety due to internal theological contradictions regarding Muslim women's rights, roles, and responsibilities, which the ulema enforce and the liberal intelligentsia hesitate to tackle. Plus, the rise of anti-Muslim bigotry in public and online spaces, hate crimes and prejudices about Muslims of Islamic heritage also make it a challenging profession. So, one way to support Muslim women in aviation is by promoting cultural awareness. This can help combat damaging stereotypes and anti-Muslim bias. There have been some famous Muslim women pilots globally such as Shaesta Waiz, an Afghan American pilot who became the youngest woman to fly solo around the world in a single-engine aircraft. She is also the founder of the non-profit organization 'Dreams Soar', which aims to inspire and empower young women to pursue careers in aviation and STEM. Then there is Ayesha Farooq, a Pakistani fighter pilot who became the first female fighter pilot in the history of the Pakistan Air Force. She has flown various combat missions and is considered a role model for young women in Pakistan. Sabiha Gokcen was a Turkish aviator who was adopted by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. She became the world's first female fighter pilot and flew more than 22 types of aircraft during her career. Asli Hassan Abade is a Somali pilot who became the first female pilot in the Somali Air Force. She is also the first woman in her family to receive a formal education and has been recognized for her contribution to promoting gender equality in Somalia. Hanadi Zakaria al-Hindi was a Saudi Arabian pilot who was one of the first female pilots in the Saudi Royal Air Force. She died during a suicide attack on a commercial airliner in 2003 and is considered a hero and a symbol of women's empowerment in Saudi Arabia. Overall, while progress has been made in recent years, there is still work to be done to ensure that women have equal opportunities and representation in the aviation industry.