ISLAMABAD – Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and other carriers of the country are set to be scrutinized for one more time to examine whether to lift the ban on flights to European destinations or not.
In this regard, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is set to convene a meeting in November to discuss the potential lifting of the ban on all Pakistani airlines.
Scheduled from November 19 to November 21, the meeting is crucial in the sense that the participants will evaluate the progress made by Pakistani airlines and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in enhancing aviation safety standards.
EASA reviews airline safety biannually, and in its last meeting on May 31, it decided to retain the ban against the Pakistani carriers. The ban was initially imposed in June 2020 following a scandal involving the issuance of fake or dubious pilot licenses in Pakistan.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) suspended the authorization for the PIA to operate in European Union member countries in 2020; the ban was announced after multiple crash incidents and a statement by the then minister about fake licenses acquired by the national flag carrier’s pilots.
EASA stated that they had suspended the Third Country Operator (TCO) Authorisation to PIA after it failed to comply with the proposed corrective action plans (CAPs).
At least six findings were raised with the PIA officials during meetings in June and September 2019, out of which five of the action plans were implemented while one other concerning element of a Safety Management System was not implemented.
It is to be highlighted that while Pakistani airlines can’t fly to Europe, PIA still operates a non-stop 14-hour flight to Canada from Lahore.
Interestingly, the caretaker regime had decided in principle to privatize the national carrier for which a consultant was also hired and efforts have been ramped up to finalize the privatization. It is expected that the bidding for PIA will be done in August.
