State-run Pakistan International Airlines resumes direct flights to Europe after EU lifts ban

ISLAMABAD (AP) — State-run Pakistan International Airlines resumed direct flights to Europe on Friday following a decision by the European Union’s aviation safety agency to lift a four-year ban over safety standards, officials said.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif welcomed the resumption, saying it would help improve the airline’s image.

The flight from Islamabad to Paris was fully booked with more than 300 passengers, the airline said.

Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif inaugurated the twice-a-week flights and vowed that PIA will expand its operations to other European countries soon.

Asif said in a speech that the European Union Aviation Safety Agency had imposed the ban on PIA's operations to Europe because of an “irresponsible statement” by a former aviation minister.

The curb on PIA was imposed in 2020 after 97 people died when a PIA plane crashed in Karachi in southern Pakistan. Then-Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said an investigation into the crash found that nearly a third of Pakistani pilots had cheated on their pilot’s exams. A government probe later concluded that the crash was caused by pilot error.

The ban caused a loss of nearly $150 million a year in revenue for PIA, officials say.

Also Friday, the first international flight from Gwadar, a new airport in southwestern Pakistan, departed for Muscat, government officials said. The Chinese-funded airport was inaugurated by Chinese Premier Li Qiang in October.

The airport, Pakistan's largest, is located in restive southwestern Balochistan province and is part of a massive investment by Beijing that links a deep seaport and airport on the Arabian Sea by road with China.