Pakistan International Airlines is dropping its Lahore – Paris service that was only just introduced in June, and they’re doing it with just two weeks’ notice. Instead, they have their sights set on Britain.
They plan to use the aircraft to fly to Manchester, in the U.K.
- EASA, The European Union Aviation Safety Agency, lifted its ban on Pakistan International Airlines in November 2024.
- The U.K. just lifted its ban last month.
Two aircraft are currently undergoing renovation, including one reassigned from the Lahore-Paris route, to meet the requirements for UK operations.
PIA officials expressed confidence that the airline will secure “Third Country Operators” authorization by mid-September. This certification is a key requirement for resuming service to the United Kingdom.
‘Meeting the requirements for UK operations’ is an odd way to describe maintenance work on aircraft that had been flying to Paris. There’s nothing U.K.-speciifc required that wouldn’t also be required to fly to the E.U. (ADS-B, radios, noise and emissions compliance, etc).
So I assume heavy maintenance is involved – a C-heck, ensuring records and airworthiness directives are in order, as well as ETOPs items. They still need a TCO (‘third country operator” certificate for the U.K. While they’re no longer banned from the U.K., they don’t yet have their foreign carrier permit from the U.K.’s Civil Aviation Authority.
Pakistan International Airlines is arguably the worst airline in the world, known for sacrificing a goat as part of its maintenance procedures and flying with more passengers on board than seats, as well as pilots at the airline flying under fake licenses. Systemic safety issues across the airline have been flagged – with cockpit resource management virtually non-existent.
PIA will still fly to Paris from Islamabad twice-weekly with a Boeing 777-200, the same type expected to be deployed to Manchester.
Before the pandemic PIA announced plans to fly to the U.S. starting in 2020, and even claimed the U.S. would allow them to handle their own security. This seems like a bad idea, to be honest.
Wishing them all the best… but, that’s a nope for me, dawg.
The route didn’t die due to low demand, they just don’t have enough aircraft available. A handful of their 777 fleet are parked currently and they are fixing to begin service to MXP and BCN.
I understand PIA is a mess but your coverage about them is beginning to get a bit sensationalist. The “Pakistan International Airlines is arguably the worst airline in the world, known for…” paragraph has been used in multiple past articles of yours by now.
@Tmbt — Gary… (occasionally) ‘sensationalist’?? …no …never
I wonder what the hold up is with US regulatory approval given that Europe and UK have now given it? There would be no shortage of demand for a JFK flight.
PIA sells old SQ Spacebeds as Premium Economy – at least on their YYZ flights – which probably makes them the best Premium Economy seats in the sky.
@Mak — PIA stopped flying to USA in 2017; and the US DOT has banned PIA since July 2020 over safety and security concerns. I doubt the current administration wants to lift the ban, regardless of safety, mostly because… well… you know… they’d rather have more flights from… Norway.
Recall the investigation in 2020, following the flight 8303 accident, which found that 262 out of the 860 pilots in the country did not have authentic licenses, alleging that many had paid someone else to take their exams for them, grounding 150 of their 434 pilots based on “bogus” licenses. In 2024, they did pass their audit, which lead to the EU lifting its ban.
Interestingly, since you mentioned YYZ, Canada’s ban was far shorter (lifted 2021), and was mostly focused on pandemic restrictions.