RAWALPINDI: A team of experts from the UK has arrived in Karachi for an audit of the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), sources said on Thursday.

The team from the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority is led by the Head of the State Safety Partnership Program at UK CAA Captain Malcolm Rusby.

According to sources, after the audit, a team of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is expected to visit Pakistan during March/April. After the audit, the ban on Pakistani airlines to European countries is expected to be lifted.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority team will remain in Karachi for nine days and the audit process is expected to be completed by Feb 16. The team is also expected to visit Islamabad.

The source added that the UK CAA team will share its audit report with the EASA, who will then visit Pakistan. The EASA audit will determine whether the ban will be lifted or not.

The source said the PCAA has complied with nine safety concerns raised by the UK and took measures to address them.

The visiting team has been given complete access to inspect the airlines and other safety-related facilities, the source added.

Since 2020, PIA has been awaiting its return to European skies. The national airline was banished from the continent after one of its aircraft crashed in Karachi in May 2020, killing 97 people.

After the crash, the then aviation minister, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, claimed in the National Assembly that around 40 per cent of Pakistani pilots were flying with suspicious credentials.

Subsequently, the EASA imposed a ban and revoked the PIA’s authorisation to operate flights to EU member states.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2023