UK authorities set to review ban on Pakistani airlines tomorrow

KARACHI: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) officials said that a crucial meeting of the UK Air Safety Committee is set to take place on March 20 to review the five-year ban on Pakistan's national airline and other carriers.

On the possibility of lifting restrictions, the committee will assess the case of all Pakistani airlines — including the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) — and deliberate.

The ban was enforced in July 2020 by the UK and European aviation authorities following the fake pilot licence scandal. However, Pakistani authorities remain hopeful that the restrictions will be lifted following tomorrow’s review.

In 2020, during Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) government, then-aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan claimed that pilots were operating planes with fake licences.

This was his response after PIA's Airbus A-320s plunged into a Karachi street, killing nearly 100 people.

Following this, the debt-ridden PIA was banned from flying to the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The ban cost the loss-making airline Rs40 billion ($144 million) annually in revenue.

In January 2025, after years-long hiatus, the PIA operated its first direct flight from Islamabad to Paris, resuming its long-awaited flights to Europe.

Eyeing UK operations, PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan said that once cleared by the DfT, London, Manchester, and Birmingham would be the most sought-after destinations.

PIA has 23% of Pakistan's domestic aviation market, but its 34-plane fleet cannot compete with Middle Eastern carriers which have 60%, due to a lack of direct flights, despite having agreements with 87 countries and key landing slots.