KARACHI: PIA’s flights to Europe are likely to be resumed by next year as a top delegation of the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) is in Brussels to hold talks with the European Commission (EC) over the measures taken under ICAO audit on October 25 (today).

According to the details, top officials from PCAA flew to Brussels at the invitation of EC for a technical meeting to discuss the measures taken by PCAA after ICAO Audit.

PCAA’s top officials including Deputy Director General Regulatory, Director Air Worthiness, Director Personnel, and Licensing, Director Flight Standards, and Additional Director Legal left for Brussels on October 23, 2022, to attend a technical meeting to be convened by EC on October 25, 2022 (today) to evaluate the measures taken

by PCAA after ICAO audit.

PCAA spokesman said that the meeting would be followed by a visit of the EC team to Pakistan during the first quarter of the next calendar year to review the measures implemented in the light of the ICAO audit, which he termed as a pre-requisite for the restoration of PIA flight operations to Europe.

Needless to mention, PIA’s air operation permit for European has been suspended since July 2020 when former Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan after an air crash raised a fake pilot license issue in the national assembly to shift the pressure to the opposition parties but failed to gauge the magnitude of his statement that drew global attention and led a serious financial dent in billions to the national flag carrier.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022