PIA prepares appeal to challenge EASA flight ban   

KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has prepared a draft of appeal against the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) decision to ban national flag carrier’s flights to Europe, ARY NEWS reported on Tuesday.

The national flag carrier has prepared its defence against the decision in light of the EASA Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA) programme.

According to key points of the defence, the European Union imposed a ban on PIA flights in 2007 and later restored it in 2009. In 2007, Pakistan stood at 3.7 points in the hazard safety index which dropped to the 0.67 points, resulting in the restoration of PIA flights.

However, currently, the country has its best-ever standing on the index with 0.61 points.

The airline currently follows a comprehensive plan to control rating on the index and it has improved a lot due to recently introduced reforms by the incumbent administration of the airline.

The airline has given priority to the safety culture, improving ranking on the index which stood at 2.7 points in January 2017.

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The airline had to face a ban on Europe flights after the issue of some pilots possessing dubious licenses popped up weeks back. The PIA has taken strict action against all such pilots and grounded them with some of them terminated from their services while the others were issued show-cause notices to respond to the allegations against them.

A PIA spokesman while commenting on the matter said that they were hopeful of addressing the concerns raised by the EASA after adopting a foolproof safety arrangement.