ISLAMABAD – Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has confirmed that flights of Pakistan International Airlines to the United Kingdom would resume by October.
Dar made a speech on the floor of the Senate on Sunday and said that Pakistan’s aviation laws were not in line with international requirements, adding that now the amendments have been made and only the president’s approval is pending.
The minister said he took personal interest in the resumption of PIA’s flight operations; Dar also lavished praise on Aviation Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique as well as the Aviation Division for their efforts to restore international flight operations.
The finance minister also took aim at the former aviation minister and said his statement regarding the license of pilots inflicted a loss of Rs 71 billion each year to the national exchequer.
‘PIA suffered a loss of Rs 59 billion in terms of closure of UK flights,’ Dar said and added that the national carrier suffered a loss of Rs 12 billion each year for flights to Europe and America.
Dar elaborated that the flight operation to the United Kingdom is profitable as there is less space for profit on the rest of the international routes.
The finance minister said that as per the understanding with international authorities, the final inspection would be completed in August and by October, the flights to the United Kingdom would be resumed -provided Pakistan promulgates its amended law.
The flight operations of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to the United Kingdom and other European destinations were halted due to multiple issues including a statement by former aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar in which he had claimed that the licenses of most of the pilots of the national flag carrier were fake.
Direct flights between UK and Pakistan through Pakistan International Airlines are at a halt since July 2020. Not only that, direct flights through other carriers have also been affected.
At present, PIA’s vast network spans the globe, flying to 25 countries across Asia, Europe and North America, and to 24 cities within Pakistan.
In 2020, European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) suspended Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight operations for Europe over safety concerns.
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.
Efforts have been made by a member of the UK Parliament, Naz Shah to resume direct flights to Pakistan and in this regard, the MP wrote a letter to the Secretary of State for Transport of the United Kingdom, Mark Harper to permit direct flights between the two countries.
The lawmaker – in her communication in May this year – emphasized that around 2,70,000 Pakistanis residing in the UK are affected by the flight disruption between the two countries.
