Amraiz Khan
Lahore
The European Union Air Safety Agency (EASA) has suspended the authorisation for the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to operate in Europe for six months, while the UK Civil Aviation Agency has suspended PIA flight operations from three airports — Birmingham, London Heathrow and Manchester.
The move follows the grounding of 262 pilots whose licences the Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan termed “dubious”. “EASA has temporarily suspended PIA’s authorisation to operate to the EU member states for a period of 6 months effective July 1, 2020, with the right to appeal against this decision,” a PIA statement said.
It added that PIA would discontinue all its flights to Europe temporarily.
All passengers booked on PIA flights to European destinations will have the option to either extend their bookings to a later date or get a full refund.
“PIA is in contact with EASA to allay their concerns and to take necessary corrective measures along with filing the appeal against the decision,” the press release said.
The national flag carrier “sincerely hopes that with reparative and swift actions taken by the Government of Pakistan and PIA management, earliest possible lifting of this suspension can be expected”, it added.
