PIA has been banned from flying to the UK since May 2020.
LONDON—The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says it hopes to remove Pakistani carriers from the UK Air Safety List “in the near future” but will not immediately follow the European Union Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) decision to lift its ban on Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
EASA on Nov. 29 ended its four-year suspension of PIA flights to Europe, citing restored confidence in the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority’s (PCAA) oversight capabilities. PIA was barred from operating to the EU and UK in May 2020, following the crash of Flight 8303 from Lahore to Karachi, which killed 97 people. The incident raised concerns about the validity of pilots’ licenses issued in Pakistan, including those held by PIA crew.
In a statement to Aviation Week, the UK CAA said it “recognizes the importance of air services” between the UK and Pakistan, emphasizing the economic and cultural ties such connections support. However, the authority noted that the issues leading to the suspension require a rigorous safety case to be demonstrated before services can resume.
“While we therefore support the restoration of such connections as soon as practicable, the circumstances that led to the suspension of those services requires a rigorous safety case to be demonstrated first,” the UK CAA said.
The CAA confirmed it has been engaging with the PCAA, but no precise timeline for lifting the ban has been established. Despite this, the authority expressed optimism that a recommendation to remove Pakistan from the UK Air Safety List will be made “in the near future.”
In early 2020—before the pandemic and the crash of Flight 8303—PIA offered seven nonstop routes between Pakistan and the UK, flying to London Heathrow Airport from Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore and Sialkot, as well as serving Islamabad-Manchester, Lahore-Manchester and Islamabad-Birmingham.
The sole nonstop link between the countries at the current time is British Airways’ flights between London Heathrow and Islamabad, which are offered twice a week using Boeing 777 aircraft.
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