ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Pakistan’s beleaguered national airline will resume flights to Europe on January 10 after European Union (EU) authorities lifted a four-year ban on the carrier, the company said in a statement yesterday.
The statement from Pakistan International Airline (PIA), which was at the centre of a pilot license scandal, said a “PIA flight will depart from Islamabad to Paris on January 10”.
“Initially, two flights will be operated weekly (on Friday and Sunday), which will gradually be increased.” PIA was barred from flying to the EU in June 2020, a month after one of its aircraft plunged into a street in the southern city of Karachi, killing nearly 100 people.
The disaster was attributed to human error by the pilots and air traffic control, and was followed by allegations that nearly a third of the licences for its pilots were fake or dubious.
The airline remains banned from operating in the United States. After Europe’s ban was lifted last week, a spokesman for the carrier said they would “strictly adhere to European Union Aviation Safety Agency’s regulations and guidelines”, referring to the EU’s aviation authority.
Pakistan’s government has said it is committed to privatising the debt-ridden airline and has been scrambling to find a buyer.
In 2023, PIA had losses of USD270 million according to local media.
Its liabilities were nearly USD3 billion, about five times the total worth of its assets.
