According to Civil Aviation Authority, Pakistan is hopeful that its flight operations to European countries would be revived by April 2023 as the European Air Safety Agency (EASA) said it was working “constructively” with Pakistan’s civil aviation to rebuild its “confidence in the certification and oversight capabilities.”
The EASA had suspended Pakistan International Airlines’ (PIA) authorization to operate in EU member countries over licensing and flight safety concerns in July 2022.
The licensing scandal tainted Pakistan’s aviation industry and the country grounded 262 airline pilots suspected of dodging their exams following checks of their qualifications.
Pakistan’s grounding of the pilots followed a preliminary report on a PIA crash in Karachi that killed 97 people in May 2020.
The EASA suspension was later extended indefinitely.
In January, the EASA refused to lift the ban citing an audit by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) indicating serious degradation of the PCAA certification and oversight capabilities.
But the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) says there has been an improvement in capabilities since.
“The European Commission (EC) has invited Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority for a technical meeting on October 25, 2022. We are hopeful that the matters will be resolved by April 2023,” Saifullah Khan, a PCAA spokesperson, said.
Khan said that the EC looks after mutual concerns involving the EASA, PIA and other airlines.
