A flight operated by state-owned Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) took off from Islamabad for Paris on Friday morning, as the carrier resumed direct flights to Europe after the lifting of EU restrictions.
The European Union blocked PIA in 2020 after one of its Airbus A-320s crashed in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, killing 97 people.
Concerns about the airline’s safety grew when Ghulam Sarwar Khan, the aviation minister at the time, said that about a third of Pakistani pilots had cheated in their exams.
Authorities have said the ban, which was lifted in November, caused the airline, which employs about 7,000 people, to lose about €146 million ($150 million) in revenue a year.
‘Irresponsible statement’
Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif inaugurated twice-weekly flights to Paris.
He said that PIA will soon increase its flights to other European countries.
In a speech, he said the European Union Aviation Safety Agency had imposed the ban because of “irresponsible statements” by the former aviation minister.
fully booked flight
Friday’s flight to Paris was booked, with more than 300 passengers on board, according to the airline.
PIA, which was formed in 1955 when a loss-making commercial airline was nationalized, flies to several cities inside Pakistan as well as to the Gulf and Southeast Asia.
In 2016, a PIA plane caught fire after an engine failure during a flight from the Far North to Islamabad, killing 40 people.
The Pakistani government is currently looking to privatize the airline once again.
tj/lo (AFP, AP)
