Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) confirmed that it has banned from the European Union on Tuesday for six months after the government-owned flight company grounded nearly 150 of its pilots (roughly 1 third) for having false or questionable licences.
EASA has suspended PIA's permission to operate to EU member states for 6 months w.e.f July 1, 2020: 0000Hrs UTC. PIA is in touch with EASA to allay their concerns and hopes that the suspension will be revoked with our CBMs soon.
— PIA (@Official_PIA) June 30, 2020
According to company spokesman Abdullah Khan speaking to AFP, European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) told PIA that "it is still not sure" if all the remaining pilots are appropriately qualified, "and thus they have lost their confidence" in the airline.
“EASA has temporarily suspended PIA’s authorization 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", Khan said.
The airline acknowledged the criticisms last week and announced that the pilots holding false certification were considered unfit to fly.
PIA acknowledges the AAIB report and have already taken measures learning from it. An independent Flight Data Monitoring setup established to monitor & analyze all flights. All pilots with dubious licenses will be grounded. Safety is more imp. than any commercial interest
— PIA (@Official_PIA) June 24, 2020
PIA has only been operating international flights at limited capacity for months amid the coronavirus pandemic and a sharp drop in travel.
Domestic flights resumed in May but were followed by a crash near Jinnah International Airport which killed 98 people, later identified as pilot error.
