Pakistan International Airlines’ Return To Europe Hits A Snag

Pakistan International Airlines has now been unable to operate flights into Europe for nearly 18 months. The airline, known in short as PIA, was banned by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in 2020 after the emergence of a scandal concerning fraudulent pilots' licenses. It has now hit another stumbling block as it tries to return to Europe.

Recently looking more positive

In May 2020, PIA flight 8303 suffered a fatal crash in Karachi, Pakistan. While the accident remains under investigation, Pakistani commercial aviation took another hit a month later when it emerged that 262 of the country's 860 pilots (30%) had license discrepancies. These ranged from suspicions all the way to licenses that were outright fakes.

A key part of the scandal concerned prospective pilots having paid others to sit exams for them. As a result of the affair, PIA grounded 150 pilots that it believed were involved, from a total of 434. Despite firing certain offenders, the EASA issued a ban on the airline on June 30th, 2020, which came into action the following day. Similar bans exist in the UK and US.

The EASA's initial ban was for six months, but it has become indefinite. However, Simple Flying reported earlier this month that the ban, which extends to all Pakistani carriers, may soon be over. This came after an ICAO safety audit of aviation in the country produced satisfactory results. Pakistan also hopes to restart issuing pilots' licenses before long.

Still unable to lift the suspension

However, despite the completed safety audit, PIA and its fellow Pakistani carriers remain unable to fly into Europe. According to Samaa TV, the national airline wrote to the EU asking for the ban to end following the release of ICAO's audit. However, this won't be an immediate fix, as the EU's recent response demonstrated concerns about the PCAA. It stated that:

"The emerging situation on the above-mentioned SSC indicated serious degradation of the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority's (PCAA) certification and oversight capabilities. Such information shall be taken by EASA when lifting the suspension."

SSC refers to the 'Significant Safety Concern' that ICAO removed from its records on PIA following its audit. In any case, the retention of the ban will be frustrating for PIA due to Europe's potential VFR (visiting friends and relatives) traffic it continues to miss out on. After all, idea.int notes that around 2.2 million people of Pakistani heritage live in Europe

The ban has prompted interesting flights

The ban on Pakistani carriers has meant that, when extra flights to and from the country have been necessary, an interesting range of carriers have operated them. A key example of this came in April 2021, after the UK added Pakistan to its COVID-19 'red list.' This resulted in a rush to get home, and saw the likes of Hi Fly, Icelandair, and Wamos Air serve the country.