On May 22, 2020 during the reign of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Pakistan International Airline (PIA) Airbus A320 crashed into the residential area of Karachi while attempting to land at Jinnah International Airport. The massacre caused over 100 casualties.
Aviation Minister at that time, Ghulam Sarwar, alleged that PIA’s pilots were operating flights with fake licenses.
In the aftermath, the European Union, United Kingdom and the United States imposed a ban on Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flights operations to their airports.
This ban cost RS 40 billion loss to the airline annually.
After a long period of five years, the European Union lifted the ban on PIA. In January 2025, PIA operated its first direct flight from Islamabad to Paris (France) after reinstatement of permission.
Following Europe, the British Air Safety committee is also likely to revoke the ban on PIA.
On 20 March, 2025, British Air Safety organized a meeting to discuss terminating the 5 years ban on Pakistan International Airlines.
Sources reported that the British Air Safety committee will soon inform Civil Aviation Authority(CAA) of its final decision made in this regard.
However there are high hopes of positive outcomes and PIA will expect direct travel to London, Manchester and Birmingham Airports in near future.
