KARACHI – Pakistan International Airline (PIA) is gearing up to resume direct flights to the US as a review by the US authorities in this regard is likely next month.
Though official announcement is awaited, well-placed sources confide that a five-member delegation from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will land in Pakistan in April to examine the resumption of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flights to the US.
In this regard, a final clearance inspection report will decide whether the national carrier is upgraded from Category II to Category I or otherwise. Efforts are being made for resumption of flights and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) has also been signed, Express Tribune reported.
In July 2020, PIA was banned to operate in the EU, the UK and the US after the then aviation minister, Ghulam Sarwar made a shocking disclosure about issuance of flying licenses to pilots without proper training. The statement was made on the floor of the parliament and cost the country billions of dollars in years to come.
Prior to the ban, the PIA operated six weekly flights to the US, including four to New York and two to Chicago.
It is to be mentioned that after putting in a lot of efforts, conducting aviation audits and up gradation of aircraft, PIA was able to resume flights to the European Union and direct flights to France resumed in January this year.
The national carrier currently operates two weekly flights to Paris, on Friday and Sunday. Though it was stated earlier by Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the UK, Dr. Faisal that direct flights to the United Kingdom would resume after Eid al Fitr, no further announcement has been made and apparently it seems that there might be a slight delay in resumption of flights.
Meanwhile, plans are afoot to privatize the national carrier which is a loss-making entity for the state. An effort was made earlier in this regard;however, due to excessively low bidding price, the carrier was not privatized. The government believes that it might be able to get a better deal if direct flights to international destinations are resumed.
