The state-owned Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), which had been banned from European airspace for more than four years, resumed flights to Europe on Friday. It is the only airline that directly connects Pakistan and the EU.
A PIA plane took off from the airport in the Pakistani capital Islamabad at around 12:40 local time, bound for the French capital Paris.
Pakistan International Airlines lost its permission to fly in European and British airspace in May 2020, after an Airbus of the airline crashed in the southern city of Karachi, killing 97 people. The accident was caused by errors by the pilots and air traffic control, prompting authorities to admit that some 150 pilots had fake licenses or had obtained them after cheating on exams.
The flight ban from the EU was lifted in November, with the responsible European agency saying it had "renewed sufficient confidence" in the functioning of the Pakistani aviation authority.
The Pakistani airline is still banned from flying to the United Kingdom and the United States. Now, Pakistan's government wants to privatise the airline, hoping that resuming flights to Europe will help it find a buyer.
The airline, which was founded in 1955, lost $270 million in 2023 and is carrying a debt of almost $3 billion, according to local media. That year, the airline had to cancel dozens of flights because it could not afford to buy kerosene.
