This year has been a tough one for all of us. Not only the general public and businesses have suffered great losses, but there are other organizations who are trying their best to combat the situation. Flights and airlines have suffered the most during the lockdowns. From March till May, PIA was flying across the borders and taking international flights to the UK and other countries before the final lockdown, but it was sustained to take any flight to the UK. However, according to the recently circulating information, the regulator of The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has allowed PIA to operate their flights to and from the UK.
Why Was PIA Suspended of the Authority?
Passengers who were used to take less expensive PIA flights from Lahore to Birmingham or Islamabad to London or Manchester to Karachi were curious to know why they don’t see PIA on the flight lists anymore. PIA flights were operational in the UK before the plane crash incident of 22nd may occur in Karachi. The incident was not the only reason for the suspension as it revealed another great scam of fake licensing of pilots. More than 260 out of 860 pilot licenses issued by the Pakistani Aviation regulators were fake and fraudulent.
Passenger safety is the major concern of the Aviation department of the UK. The news spread like fire, which is why UK regulators decided not to let PIA flights operational in the country anymore. The decision was made soon after the revelation of fake licenses were cleared.
PIA Is Overcoming the Challenges
PIA is a Pakistani airline that has tried its best to overcome certain challenges to maintain the quality of their flights and gain the trust of other countries to resume their flights, especially in the UK. Most of the flights were operational in the UK, which is why PIA’s revenue generation and the name was at stake. After struggling hard to balance the losses and upgrading their pilot’s licensing check and other safety measures, PIA is all set to grant permission to be operational in the UK once again.
What’s New
According to the latest reports, PIA is ready to resume flights in the UK from 30th October. The decision was announced on 17 August by CAA, stating that PIA can resume flights from Islamabad to Birmingham and Manchester using Hi Fly aircraft. These aircraft are chartered from Portuguese wet-lease. Hi Fly has a total of 13 aircraft in service. Five of them are Airbuses A340s, three A330s, two A321s and two A319s, and 10 in storage, including a single A380 plus five A330s and four A340s.
Business Recorder, a Pakistani newspaper records the statement of a spokesperson of the airline about the routes in the upcoming resumption of the services. The operations will be from Islamabad to London, from Lahore to London, and from Islamabad to Manchester. The spokesperson also added that the PIA flight passengers will have more safety, comfortable seats, halal food, and the best in-flight entertainment facilities.
