Pakistan’s aviation minister Khawaja Asif on Friday announced that the European Commission and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) have lifted the ban on Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) for flights to Europe.
Asif described the announcement as “momentous” after the European Commission and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) lifted the suspension on PIA flights to Europe.
The Pakistani flag carrier was originally banned from flying into Europe in July 2020 by the ESEA, shortly following the crash of PIA flight 8303 in May 2020, which killed 97 people and widespread malpractice in the country's aviation sector where 262 pilots in Pakistan were found to obtain fraudulent or dubious licenses, 141 of those pilots worked for PIA.
However, by December 2020, PIA reported that 110 of these pilots were cleared of any wrongdoing after a thorough review. Licenses of 15 pilots were cancelled, while another 14 were deemed medically unfit to fly.
“Not only this, TCO authorisation has also been issued to second Pakistani airline – Airblue Limited. It is made possible due to complete focus of Aviation Ministry to strengthen PCAA and ensuring safety oversight in line with ICAO standards,” Asif commented in a post on X formerly Twitter.
He added: “Our Government has taken significant measures to strengthen PCAA including enactment of PCAA Act, smooth segregation of regulator and service providers, appointment of professional leadership and training to build the capacity. I am grateful to European Commission and EASA for conducting a transparent process and our commitment to ensure Aviation safety in Pakistan.”
Before the airline was banned PIA operated routes to several key cities, including London, Manchester, Paris, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Oslo, and Barcelona.