EU refuses to lift ban on Pakistani flights over safety, license concerns

ISLAMABAD : The European Commission has decided to retain the ban on Pakistan’s national carrier PIA’s operations in its member countries, saying it is dissatisfied over the steps taken by the country’s civil aviation authority to address licensing and safety concerns, a media report said on Friday.

The EC has also asked the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to remove safety deficiencies and improve the process of issuing licenses to commercial pilots, the Dawn newspaper reported.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) had suspended the authorisation for the PIA to operate in European Union member countries for six months in July 2020, after showing concern over the issue of pilots’ licences citing the Pakistan aviation minister’s speech in Parliament that one third of Pakistani pilots had fake licences.