UK to Hold Key Meeting on 5-Year Ban on Pakistani Airlines, Including PIA

A crucial meeting of the **UK Air Safety Committee** is scheduled for **March 20**, regarding the **5-year ban** imposed on Pakistani airlines, including **Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)**. According to officials from the **Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)**, the British committee will review the cases of all Pakistani airlines.

The ban was initially imposed in **July 2020** by the UK and Europe on Pakistani airlines’ flights, following the **fake pilot license scandal**. There is hope that this meeting could result in the lifting of the flight restrictions on Pakistani airlines.

The ban came after a controversial statement by the then **Federal Minister for Aviation**, **Ghulam Sarwar Khan**, in the **National Assembly**, where he claimed that most pilot licenses issued by the **CAA** were fake. This statement followed a deadly crash involving a **PIA aircraft** in Karachi. The European Union’s decision, communicated on **July 1, 2020**, was a direct response to this claim, citing weaknesses in Pakistan’s aviation regulatory oversight.

According to **aviation expert officials**, the European Union took Ghulam Sarwar Khan’s statement seriously and imposed the ban, with further promises of conducting an audit of Pakistan’s aviation sector. However, despite repeated efforts, Pakistani authorities have not yet been able to convince the European Union to lift the ban.

Since the imposition of the ban, European **air safety committee officials** have met with the **CAA** multiple times. The most recent meeting occurred on **May 14** in **Brussels**, where the issue of the ban was discussed.

In **November** last year, a European Union delegation visited **Pakistan** to assess the safety measures in the aviation sector. Based on their findings, the **EU Air Safety Committee** demanded that Pakistan provide additional information regarding the cabin crew, engineers, and airline licenses to ensure no similar issues exist with them, as previously mentioned by the aviation minister about pilots.

The **European Union** has also asked Pakistan to amend its pilot license guidelines, improve its legal framework for regulatory authorities, and enhance the consultation process for air safety. These measures are aimed at restoring the credibility of Pakistani airlines in the European Union.

The outcome of the **March 20** meeting will be crucial in determining whether the **ban on Pakistani airlines** will be lifted or extended further.