Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has passed the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) for the resumption of flights to the European Union, the UK and the US. Its IOSA registration has now been successfully renewed and is valid until 23 June 2023.
However, the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) must still get its audit done by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) before the airline flies again to those destinations.
In late June 2020, PIA came under pressure when it was disclosed, after a plane crash on 22 May which claimed the lives of 98 people, that 30% of its 860 pilots were working on fake licences.
As a result, PIA flights were banned to the European Union and the UK, while the US slashed its category, and PIA was instructed to get safety registration audits done from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in order to resume flights on western routes.
The fake licences fiasco for PIA will not end until the national regulator PCAA gets particular audits done by ICAO, which will determine whether the PCAA safety standards certification and checks and balances are at par or not.
Source: The Express Tribune