According to the reports, the British Security Committee has scheduled a meeting for March 12, 2025 to review the resumption of the direct flights of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to the United Kingdom.
During this meeting, the Committee will evaluate the resumption of PIA flights. The British Civil Aviation Authority and the Department of Transportation (DFT) will present the latest PIA audit reports and Civil Aviation of Pakistan, sources told Express News.
If the British Security Committee approves, PIA will resume direct flights to the United Kingdom. The airline has been forbidden to operate flights to the United Kingdom since July 2020.
PIA’s management has the hope of restoration of flights to the United Kingdom after the successful resumption of operations in European countries, the sources reveal.
Photo: United Kingdom Flight Safety Committee
The airline management has already devised a plan to start flights to London, Manchester and Birmingham immediately after receiving approval.
A two -member PIA team recently returned to Pakistan after reviewing preparations for flight operations in the United Kingdom.
A month ago, Pia resumed her operations to Europe on Friday with a flight that leaves Paris.
The first flight, PK-749, took off from Islamabad International Airport (IIAP) on Friday at 12:10 pm, using a Boeing 777 (AP-BGK) plane. The flight was 330 passengers and 14 crew members.
Meanwhile, a team from the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States (FAA) is scheduled to visit Pakistan in March to evaluate the viability of resuming direct flights between Pakistan and the United States.
In preparation for the visit, Islamabad has already paid the required rate of $ 75,000, the sources have revealed.
Direct flights from Pakistan to the United States were suspended in 2017 and efforts to restore them faced setbacks due to Covid-19 pandemic and the Pia 2020 plane accident in Karachi.
After the prohibition of the European Union of the National Carrier, FAA reduced the Pakistan aviation security rating of the CA1 category to the CA2 category, further delaying flight resumption.
