EU Commission refuses to lift ban on Pakistan

Karachi [Pakistan], December 3 (ANI): The European Union Commission on Wednesday refused to lift the ban on allowing Pakistani flights to operate in their territory due to several complications relating to safety and license concerns.

The aviation department of Pakistan needs to make its pilot licensing authority more transparent, said the EU Commission, noting that the issuance to pilots has to be via a fool-proof protocol, reported ARY News.

The EU also objected to the safety procedures of the Pakistani aviation industry noting that it requires to work on that before the EU could allow it back in the operations.

This comes as Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had reported to have incurred a loss of Rs 280 million after suspension of its flight operation to and from the EU states, Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar had informed the National Assembly in October.

In a written reply, he had said the national flag carrier's receipts from its flight operation in the EU bloc fell to Rs 1.41 billion from Rs 1.69 billion in July-August 2020, reported ARY News.

Last month, he had said that as many as 7,000 employees of Pakistan International Airlines will be laid off voluntarily. (ANI)