ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will scale back operations to France by suspending its Lahore–Paris flights in mid-September, a PIA spokesperson said on Monday, adding the move is linked to planned resumption of services to the United Kingdom (UK).

PIA resumed flights to Europe in January after a four-and-a-half-year ban on the airline was lifted by European regulators. The airline began two weekly flights between Lahore and Paris on June 18.

PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez told Arab News the last Paris–Lahore flight will operate on Sept. 12, while the final Lahore–Paris flight will depart from the country on Sept. 17.

“The Lahore–Paris route is not being permanently closed but has been temporarily suspended to prioritize operations to the United Kingdom (UK) as passenger demand is currently low during the lean season,” Hafeez said, adding the airline is expected to resume UK flight operations by mid-October.

Debt-ridden PIA was banned in June 2020 from flying to the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom and the United States, a month after one of its Airbus A-320s plunged into a residential neighborhood in Karachi, killing nearly 100 people.

The disaster was attributed to human error by the pilots and air traffic control and was followed by allegations that nearly a third of the PIA pilot licenses were fake or dubious.

In Nov. last year, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) announced lifting the ban on PIA, while the UK removed Pakistan from its ‘Air Safety List’ on July 16, paving the way for Pakistani airlines to apply for permits to resume UK flights.

“Resumption of the flights to the UK is dependent on TCO (Third-Country Operator) authorization, which is expected by mid-September,” Hafeez said.

A TCO authorization is a safety certificate issued by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to non-UK airlines, permitting them to operate commercial flights to, from, or within the UK.

The PIA spokesperson said services on the Lahore–Paris route are expected to resume again in Nov. this year when travel typically peaks, with Pakistani diaspora flying into the country during the Christmas holidays.

Arab News reached out to Pakistan’s Privatization Commission for comment on the impact of the PIA route suspension but received no response by the time of filing of this story.

PIA spokesperson Hafeez, however, said the privatization process “depends more on financial performance and annual revenue forecasts than on the status of individual routes.”

Pakistan has been seeking to sell a 51-100 percent stake in the struggling national airline to raise funds and reform cash-draining, state-owned enterprises as envisaged under a $7 billion International Monetary Fund program. The airline has been one of the government’s most costly liabilities, which has accumulated over $2.5 billion in losses in roughly a decade and been surviving on repeated bailouts that have weighed heavily on Pakistan’s strained budget.

In July, Pakistan prequalified four investors for the sale of PIA. Among the bidding groups, one is a consortium of major industrial firms Lucky Cement, Hub Power Holdings, Kohat Cement and Metro Ventures. Another is led by investment firm Arif Habib Corp. and includes fertilizer producer Fatima Fertilizer, private education operator The City School, and real estate firm Lake City Holdings. Additionally, Fauji Fertilizer Company, a military-backed conglomerate, and Pakistani airline Airblue, have been approved to bid for PIA.