Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) finally resumed flights to Europe on Friday, more than a month after EU regulators lifted a four-and-a-half-year ban.
A state airline flight, plagued by a history of fatal accidents and a pilot license scandal, took off from Islamabad around 12:40 p.m. bound for Paris. AFP journalists saw, becoming the only airline to offer a direct route to and from the European Union.
“This is the first time I have traveled with PIA,” said passenger Shumaila Rana, a 38-year-old school teacher who lives in Germany. “I’m nervous and I have a lot of anxiety, but I hope it’s a good flight.”
In June 2020, debt-ridden PIA was banned from flying to the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States, a month after one of its Airbus A-320s went down in Karachi’s Model Colony, killing almost 100 people.
The disaster was blamed on human error by pilots and air traffic control, and was followed by accusations that nearly a third of its pilots’ licenses were false or dubious.
In 2016, a PIA plane burst into flames after one of its two turboprop engines failed during a flight from Chitral to Islamabad, killing more than 40 people.
On November 29, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency announced that it had lifted the ban; however, it remains unable to fly in the United Kingdom and the United States.
At the time, it said it had “reestablished sufficient confidence” in the oversight capabilities of the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan.
The airline flies to several cities within Pakistan, including the mountainous north, as well as the Gulf and Southeast Asia.
Hopes pinned on privatization
PIA, which employs 7,000 people, has long been accused of being bloated and mismanaged, hampered by unpaid bills, a poor safety record and regulatory problems.
Pakistan’s government has said it is committed to privatizing the debt-ridden airline and has been struggling to find a buyer.
Late last year, a deal fell through after a potential buyer reportedly offered a fraction of the asking price.
The government hopes the opening of European routes, which officials hope will be followed by a similar announcement by the UK later this year, will boost its sales potential.
Aviation Minister Khawaja Asif had called the restoration of flights to Europe a “huge value-add” that would make the airline more attractive to potential buyers.
PIA recorded losses of $270 million in 2023, according to local media. Its liabilities amounted to nearly $3 billion, roughly five times the value of its total assets.
That same year, in the midst of a national economic crisis, dozens of domestic flights were canceled when he could not pay for fuel for his planes.
PIA was born in 1955 when the government nationalized a loss-making commercial airline and enjoyed rapid growth until the 1990s.
