European agency clears PIA in remote audit

EASA will visit Pakistan in Sept to conduct physical one

KARACHI/ISLAMABAD:

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has cleared the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in its remote audit, removing yet another obstacle in the resumption of the national carrier’s flights to European destinations.
According to sources, the online audit of the PIA was conducted by the EASA a few months ago.

The EASA will now come to Pakistan in September to conduct a physical audit of the PIA as well as the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

After the success of the final audit, PIA’s flights to Europe will be restored.

The resumption of operations in Europe will be extremely beneficial for the PIA.

The national flag carrier has been banned from flying to European countries since June 2020.

The PIA landed in hot water in the wake of its flight PK-8303 crashing in Karachi on May 22, 2020, and the subsequent announcement by the then Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan of the grounding of 262 airline pilots suspected of dodging their exams.

The government’s recent decision to amend aviation laws has come as a direct response to the EU’s demand to rectify past deficiencies leading to the suspension of flight operations to Europe and other destinations in the wake of the fake pilot licence scandal of 2020.

Sources in the ruling alliance revealed that the government bowed to the EU’s pressure and decided to enact two laws -- the Pakistan Civil Aviation Act, 2023, and the Pakistan Airports Authority Act, 2023 -- so that the skies might soon see a return of the national carrier’s flights to Europe and beyond.

Insiders revealed that the National Assembly’s swift passage of aviation bills was at the EU’s behest as the government was eager to reconnect and resume flight operations to Europe, the UK, the US and other nations.
On Friday, Federal Aviation Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said the PIA was likely to resume flights to Britain in the next three months.

The minister informed the NA that new legislation this week had removed the final hurdle for the PIA to fly to the UK.

Without giving any details about the legislation or why it was required to resume the flights, Rafique said the resumption of services to Britain did not include European destinations.

He added that the PIA flights would fly to the UK in three months, and later, flights to Europe and the US would resume.

The statements of objects and reasons of both the bills were almost identical as only their names differed, while the rest of the text was the same.

Considering the sensitivity of operations and involvement of strategic asset ie airspace, the statements read, the role of the CAA would be bifurcated into two entities.

One of them would be responsible for regulations of civil aviation activities in Pakistan while the other for provision of civil aviation services and development of aviation infrastructure in the country.

The statements added that the CAA would be entrusted with regulatory functions. Whereas, the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) would be entrusted with commercial and operational aspects of airports.