Following the decision by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to suspend permission for Pakistan International Airlines to operate services to the European Union, PIA flights to UK airports have been suspended by the country’s Civil Aviation Authority said today.
PIA currently operates flights to from Birmingham, London Heathrow and Manchester but these will cease with immediate effect.
The UK Civil Aviation Authority is required under law to withdraw PIA's permit to operate to the UK pending EASA's restoration of their approval that it meets international air safety standards.
“We are reviewing a request by EASA to allow a small number of repatriation flights operated by PIA to commence over the coming days. These will only be approved should EASA be assured by the safety cases of these flights and that the flight crew operating the aircraft have the correct documentation,” the UK CAA said in a statement.
The decision follows the crash of a PIA Airbus A320 on a scheduled flight from Lahore to Karachi on May 22 when Ninety-seven passengers and crew died.
The preliminary report found the captain and first officer disregarded standard procedures and ignored alarms and subsequent investigations found a number of Pakistani pilots were flying with fraudulent licences.