The Pakistan High Commission in London announced on Friday that national carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will resume flight operations to the UK this month.
No exact date was given in the announcement, which was posted on X.
“High Commissioner [Dr Muhammad Faisal] is grateful to the Civil Aviation Authority UK for issuing the Foreign Aircraft Operating Permit (FOP) today, the final document enabling commercial flights between the UK and Pakistan,” the post read.
“PIA has already received the Third Country Operator (TCO) approval for flight operations in the United Kingdom, and in the first phase, flight operations to Manchester will be resumed, after which Birmingham and London will be included.”
In July, the UK removed Pakistan from its Air Safety List, allowing Pakistani airlines to apply to operate flights in Britain.
The development came after the UK Department for Transport concluded an aviation security inspection at Islamabad International Airport on Thursday, declaring Pakistan’s security arrangements “satisfactory and in line with international standards”.
The carrier was banned from flying to the European Union, the UK and the United States in June 2020, a month after one of its Airbus A-320s plunged into Karachi’s Model Colony, killing nearly 100 people.
The ban followed the grounding of 262 pilots whose licences then-aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan termed “dubious”.
The ban on operating in Europe was lifted in November 2024.