ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Aviation Khawaja Saad Rafique has said the Pakistan
International Airlines (PIA) was likely to resume flights to Britain in the next three
months, after services were suspended following a fake pilot scandal.
The federal minister apprised the National Assembly that new legislation this week had
removed the final hurdle for the national carrier to fly to the United Kingdom. He gave no
details about the legislation or why it was required to resume the flights.
He said the resumption of services to Britain did not include other European
destinations. “God willing, the PIA flights will resume at least to the UK in three months,
and later, flights to Europe and America will resume.”
The PIA flights to Europe and the UK were suspended after the European Union’s
Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) revoked the national carrier’s authorisation to fly to the
bloc in 2020 following a fake pilot licence scandal.
The issue resulted in the grounding of 262 of Pakistan’s 860 pilots, including 141 of
PIA’s 434.
PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan said the national carrier was looking forward
to resuming flights on the UK route.
“The UK and Europe contribute to 37% of our total revenue,” he said.
Rafique said the national airline had incurred losses as a result of the fake licence
issue.
He said it would need to be restructured and required billions of dollars in investment to
avoid closure.
The minister also stressed the need to restructure the PIA in order to address its
substantial deficit, which had reached Rs80 billion this year and was projected to
increase to Rs259 billion by 2030 if not dealt with appropriately.
