KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is set to resume flights to the United Kingdom(UK) this month, nearly four years after its services were suspended.
The Pakistan High Commission in London confirmed the development on Friday through a post on X, announcing that the UK Civil Aviation Authority had issued the Foreign Aircraft Operating Permit (FOP), the final approval required for PIA to restart commercial operations.
“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 statement read.
The High Commission added that PIA already holds Third Country Operator (TCO) approval for UK operations. In the initial phase, flights will resume with services to Manchester, later expanding to Birmingham and London.
The clearance comes after a series of regulatory milestones in recent months. In July, the UK removed Pakistan from its Air Safety List, allowing domestic airlines to seek British routes. More recently, the UK Department for Transport carried out a security inspection at Islamabad International Airport and found Pakistan’s aviation security “satisfactory and in line with international standards.”
PIA flights to Europe, the UK, and the US were banned in June 2020, following the Airbus A-320 crash in Karachi’s Model Colony that killed nearly 100 people. The accident led to the grounding of 262 pilots whose licences were deemed “dubious” by then-aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan.
The European Union lifted its ban on PIA in November 2024, paving the way for the airline’s return to key Western destinations.
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