Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will continue to fly to and from the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom Transportation Department (DFT) confirmed on Tuesday, the hurried hopes of an imminent return after a four -year parenthesis.
A spokesman for the department said: “Airlines must go through a rigorous procedure to raise restrictions,” added that the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority was in contact with the Pakistani authorities regarding the issue.
The United Kingdom’s air security list includes countries and airlines that are not allowed to operate commercial flights within the United Kingdom due to security concerns.
According to the official website of the United Kingdom Government, “all aerial carriers certified by the authorities with responsibility for the regulatory supervision of Pakistan are prohibited from operating commercial air services, from and within the United Kingdom.”
This update occurs a few days after the reports suggested that the British Air Safety Committee had discussed the lifting of the prohibition, which had increased hopes among the Pakistani authorities.
Initially, the prohibition was applied in July 2020 by the United Kingdom aviation authorities and Europe after a great scandal revealed that dozens of Pakistani pilots operated with false licenses.
The then Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan admitted the theme after the tragic accident of a Pia Airbus A-320 in Karachi, which charged almost 100 lives.
The consequences of the scandal resulted in prohibitions throughout the United Kingdom, the European Union and the United States, which cost the losses airline approximately RS40 billion ($ 144 million) annually in lost income.
Despite the continuous prohibition in the United Kingdom, PIA marked a small milestone in January 2025 by resuming direct flights to Europe with a flight from Islamabad to Paris.
Pia spokesman Abdullah Hafeez Khan shared the airline’s aspirations, saying that once cleared by the DFT, “London, Manchester and Birmingham would be the most wanted destinations.”
