That’s cool !

EASA has barred Pakistan International Airlines from using its airports and possibly overflights in its airspace. The action is severe.

EASA had requested the setting up of a protocol for auto-reporting of aircraft anomalies via a software arrangement. This request and its compliance was ongoing for sometime but was not complied to till an accident occurred on 22 May 2020.

A preliminary investigative report read out in the national parliament of Pakistan blamed the regulator and airline for the sorry state of affairs. Further the aviation minister added an issue of using unfair means by a considerable number of pilots to obtain professional licences from the regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority Pakistan. The hue and cry from this statement, which in my opinion was valid has completely stopped the international footprint of this airline.

By raising the issue here and making you aware of another viewpoint, the airline has had too much of interference from the government's aviation division to whom day to day operational matters of PIA were referred to. It was run from Islamabad and not from its headquarters in Karachi. This went on for quite sometime under the successive governments who even treated it as a private taxi, taking the aircraft out of commercial service for days on end and with no payment made.

A lot of restructuring is required for it be viable again.

When I joined PIA in 1967, it was in its heyday and my selection was based through a countrywide pool of candidates which included the former East Pakistan.. We were tested for aptitude before joining as trainee pilots.