KARACHI: An important meeting of the UK Air Safety Committee is set to begin on March 20 to review the five-year ban on Pakistan’s national airline and other carriers.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) officials said that the committee will assess the case of all Pakistani airlines including Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) other air companies on the possibility of lifting restrictions.
UK and European aviation authorities enforced the ban on the airlines in July 2020 following the fake pilot license scandal. However, Pakistani authorities remain hopeful that the restrictions will be lifted following tomorrow’s review.
Former aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan claimed that pilots were operating planes with fake licenses while addressing the Parliament in 2020, during Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) government. Following this statement, PIA was banned from flying to the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The prohibition cost the already loss-making airline Rs40 billion ($144 million) annually in revenue.
The PIA resumed its first direct flight from Islamabad to Paris, in January 2025 after five long years of ban from Europe.
Regarding PIA operations, the spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan stated that once approved by England’s Department for Transport (DfT), London, Manchester, and Birmingham would be the most frequently visited locations.
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