PIA's Europe flights to be restored after completion of cleansing operation: Sarwar

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan on Wednesday said the suspension of Pakistan International Airlines' (PIA) flights' operation to the Europe, including the United Kingdom, was temporary, which would be restored after completion of the cleansing operation.

Responding to a calling attention notice of Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Faqir Ahmed Chaudhry, Muhammad Afzal Khokar, Ms Shaista Pervaiz and Romina Khursheed Alam, the minister told the National Assembly that a transparent inquiry was underway into the affairs of PIA and those found responsible would not be spared.

He said the PIA was under surveillance in 2019, and the European Safety had raised six-point concerns about its safety. Five points were addressed while the sixth one was under consideration.

On May 22, a PIA plane was crashed due to the pilot's error, according to the inquiry report, the minister added.

Sarwar said the PIA had started screening and checking degrees of its employees following a suo moto notice taken by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The degrees of some 658 employees, including 17 pilots and 96 engineers were found fake.

An engineer was matriculate. A forensic audit was continuing, he added.

He said 28 pilots of the PIA had been dismissed from service, while the commercial licenses of 26 had been cancelled. Today the national airliner had liability of Rs 462 billion, he added.

He said the Civil Aviation Agency was being revamped and restructured.

The institutions had been destroyed from 2008 to 2018, he added.

Amjad Khan, who was chairing the session, directed chief whip to constitute a standing committee for probing the affairs of PIA.