The European Union (EU) has no plans to ban Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) operations in EU countries as corrective measures have been taken by the national flag carrier to improve its operational standards. In reply to a query by Business Recorder, the EU representative, Pierre Mayaudon, Deputy Head of Delegation, said that "there is no intent to impose a ban on PIA operations" in the EU countries.
He further said that corrective measures taken by the Pakistani side had encouraged EU and it was looking forward to concrete results. "There is no existing plan to ban PIA operations in the EU region. However, this will be subject to further review before the end of the first quarter of 2012", Mayaudon added.
It was reported in a section of media a few days ago that the EU had expressed concern over ''systematic deficiency'' in PIA aircraft maintenance. It termed Civil Aviation Authority regulatory role ''unreliable'' and started carefully examining the situation before taking a final decision to ban the airline operations in its region.
According to media, this was communicated by the European Aviation Safety Agency to the PIA through a letter. However, PIA spokesperson Sultan Hassan denied this report and termed it baseless. He told Business Recorder that no such report had been received from the EU.
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