Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has chosen not to file an appeal against the European Union Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) suspension of the flag carrier’s trips to and from the EU member states as the two-month deadline time for documenting the appeal expired on August 30.
As reported by Dawn News on Tuesday, the decision was made ahead of a planned visit to Pakistan of the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) group on September 7 to evaluate the operational management and control methods of the PIA.
As per some sources, the IATA-assigned safety audit group is believed to be in Islamabad for five days. On 30th of June, the EASA had composed a letter to the PIA, notifying them that besides from the pending issue of implementing safety management tools in the carrier’s flight operation inside the specified time, it had delayed authorization of PIA trips to and from the EU member nations for a half a year effective from July 1. However, it was said by the EASA that an appeal opposing the suspension of authorization can be filed over the span of two months.
As written in Dawn News’s report, the Operational Safety Audit is done every two years. The last such review was completed in 2018. The review program was structured by the IATA in 2003 to survey the operational management and control systems of airlines.
The IATA had shown worry over the “serious lapse in the licensing and safety oversight by the aviation regulator”. Other than the IATA, the EASA had likewise displayed worry after the PIA flight PK-8303 accident in Karachi on May 22, followed by Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan’s June 24 revelation that licenses of 262 out of the 850 pilots seemed “suspicious”.
In regards to the EASA issue, spokesperson of PIA, Abdulah Hafeez Khan, told Dawn News that “We are in continuous talks with the UK and EU authorities to get this suspension lifted and have engaged one of the biggest aviation firms to assist PIA in this regard.”
The spokesperson said that so as to hold its traction in the market, the PIA continued its flights to the UK through alternative methods with better items which would proceed till the time the direct flight’s authorization was granted. He said the PIA was in hope that the suspension would be lifted soon.
