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.