Pakistan to restart flights to EU, US, UK by March — aviation minister

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will resume flights to Europe, US and other destinations by March, the aviation minister said on Thursday, as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has withdrawn its objections over the country’s 2020 fake pilot licenses controversy. 
Pakistani carriers were barred from operating flights to Europe by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in 2020 after the country’s aviation minister, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, said 40 percent of Pakistani pilots had obtained dubious licenses. 
The minister had said that these pilots had cheated on their mandatory license exams. His statement caused damage to Pakistan’s national flag carrier, the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), as its flights were restricted around the world, and also dealt a blow to the civil aviation industry’s image. 
The statement from the minister came after a May 22, 2020 plane crash in Karachi killed more than 90 people. 
On Thursday, however, the ICAO said Pakistan had resolved significant safety concerns over the pilots’ fake licenses issue 
Sarwar held a press conference on Thursday to announce the “good news” for the new year, adding that Pakistan would also start flight operations to Central Asian destinations such as Tashkent, Baku and Bishkek.
The minister said Pakistan is hoping to resume flight operations to three destinations in the UK, London, Birmingham and Manchester. He said the country also wants to resume flight operations to Oslo and Paris in mainland Europe. 
He said flight operations to Canada would also resume soon. 
Speaking about the ICAO audit team’s visit to Pakistan, Sarwar said he had invited them to see for themselves how Pakistani authorities had resolved their safety concerns and taken steps to improve the training and licensing processes for the pilots. 
During their visit to Pakistan last year, the ICAO audit team inspected Pakstan’s Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) flying clubs, observed the domestic flight departures and also visited Pakistan’s airports. They also examined the safety measures in place and received the pilot examination system. 
The minister said the CAA had contacted UK’s CAA, EASA and the US’s civil aviation to inform them that the safety concerns raised by the ICAO had been resolved and asked them to lift the restrictions imposed on Pakistani-registered aircraft.