PIA banned from flying to Europe for 6 months

ISLAMABAD: The European Union Air Safety Agency (EASA) has suspended the authorisation for Pakistan’s national airline to operate in Europe for six months, the airline’s spokesman said on Tuesday.

The move follows the grounding of 262 Pakistani pilots whose licences the country’s aviation minister termed “dubious.”

“EASA has temporarily suspended PIA’S authorisation to operate to the EU member states for a period of 6 months effective from July 1, 2020 with the right to appeal against this decision,” a Pakistan International Airlines’ statement said.

It added that PIA would discontinue all its paramedics in ventilator management, while also ordering the health secretary to present a plan to expand the HDUS and ICUS in different hospitals.

Meanwhile, Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid has said that her department has set up separate outdoor facilities for coronavirus patients at the government hospitals so that people can visit them easily. flights to Europe temporarily.

Pakistani airline pilots and their union have raised questions about a government list of 262 pilots with “dubious” credentials, saying it is full of discrepancies.

Khan announced last week the grounding of 262 airline pilots suspected of dodging their exams, a move that caused global concern.

The minister said the pilots included 141 from Pakistan International Airlines, nine from Air Blue, 10 from Serene Airline, and 17 from Shaheen Airlines.

The PIA said the list showed discrepancies once the airlines received it.

Thirty-six of the 141 had either retired or

The circumstantial evidence indicates a drop in patients’ inflow at hospitals despite the recent increase in the number of COVID-19 moved out, it said. Air Blue said seven of the pilots on the list no longer worked for the airline.

The pilots and their union have rejected the list and demanded a judicial investigation.

“We don’t have full details of the discrepancies with us,” said Abdul Satar Khokhar, a spokesman at Pakistan’s civil aviation ministry.

“The issue is being sorted out in consultation with airlines and civil aviation authorities.”

The Pakistan Airlines Pilots Association (PALPA) has also raised doubts about the list.

“It contains names of highly educated and qualified pilots who have passed all the tests,” its president, Chaudhry Salman, told reporters. tests across Pakistan, said Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar.

But the positive development has enhanced the worries of the decision makers, as they feared that people might stop taking precautionary measures against the highly contagious virus with the slight improvement in the situation.

“We want a fair and impartial resolution to this mater.”

The action on the “dubious” licences was prompted by the preliminary report on an airliner crash in Karachi that killed 97 people last month.

It found the plane’s pilots failed to follow standard procedures and disregarded alarms.

Prime Minister Imran Khan told parliament he would reform PIA and other government institutions.

“I want to tell my nation: We have no other option, reforms are inevitable,” he said on Tuesday.