An Islamabad District and Sessions Court has issued a final ruling against Airblue, a private Pakistani airline. The court has ordered the carrier to pay 5.41 billion Pakistani rupees (approximately $19.5 million) in compensation to the victims of a July 2010 plane crash near Islamabad.
The court dismissed all eight appeals filed by Airblue challenging the compensation amounts. Furthermore, it imposed a 1 million-rupee fine on each appeal, bringing the total penalty to 8 million rupees.
In its verdict, the court criticised Airblue for repeatedly filing appeals. It stated the airline had wasted valuable judicial time by contesting the compensation owed to the victims’ families. The court specified the compensation to be paid to individual claimants. The major awards include:
- Muhammad Ilyas: 1.101 billion rupees
- Junaiduz Zaman Hamid: 996.048 million rupees
- Muhammad Javed Khan: 857.025 million rupees
- Rashid Zulfiqar and four others: 630.94 million rupees
The ruling stems from a civil claim filed against Airblue over its role in the 2010 crash, which killed several passengers. Families of the victims had challenged an earlier decision by a civil judge. That initial ruling had awarded partial compensation of up to 10 million rupees per person.
The Islamabad High Court earlier transferred the case back to the District Court for a final decision. However, some appeals filed by the victims themselves remain pending before the High Court. Airblue’s lawyers had argued against the compensation amounts detailed in the claim. Nevertheless, they failed to convince the court, which upheld the substantial awards.
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