ISLAMABAD – The flight resumption of Pakistan International Airlines to Europe and other global destinations has been delayed for one more time.
The International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) has sought documents related to the carrier’s engineering, flight services, and flight operations to determine whether to allow it to operate in Europe or otherwise.
What confirms that the resumption is not likely soon is the fact that sources close to the developments confide that the decision in this regard would be made in a meeting that would be held in May 2024.
The European Safety Agency Board in its meeting in May 2024 would finally make any decision in this regard related to the ban on PIA flights in Europe and the UK.
Meanwhile, the International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) is expected to present its final report to the Safety Board in the same meeting but the audit reports of both PIA and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) are included in the agenda for discussion, The Nation reported.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) had suspended the authorisation 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 said 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.
Interestingly, the caretaker regime has decided in principle to privatise the national carrier for which a consultant has also been hired and efforts have been ramped up. Apparently, by the time IASA okays PIA to operate international flights, a private owner would reap the benefits instead of the government of Pakistan.
