European Union Aviation Safety Agency denies to lift the suspension on Pakistan airlines

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The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) refuses to lift the ban on flights from Pakistan, once again. The EASA issued a letter wherein it stated that "it would conduct its own evaluation before allowing resumption of flights from Pakistan."

"The closure of this significant safety concern was an important step towards a potential lifting of the suspension of your third country operator authorization," the EASA stated in a letter to Pakistan International Airlines Chief Executive Officer Arshad Malik. However, the letter notes that "EASA shall conduct an audit of the operator before lifting the suspension.

Since deficiencies in state oversight were a contributor to the suspension decision, such (an) audit will have to include an assessment to verify if these deficiencies have been properly addressed and corrected."Pakistani carriers had been restricted from flying to EU states in July 2020 when the EASA suspended Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) authorization to operate flights to EU member states,” as per sources.

In December last year, an ICAO audit team that had visited Pakistan to undertake a safety audit of the aviation authority completed the process on December 10, sources further said. The Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan in a press conference held on January 6, claimed that Pakistan was writing to EASA – as well as other international aviation bodies – to convey that the safety concerns raised by ICAO had been addressed. He had hoped that flights to important destinations in Europe could commence as early as February.

With inputs from ANI