The European Commission has lifted restrictions it placed on Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) when flying to airports in member states, as it updated its black list of airlines banned from the skies of Europe.
In a statement the Commission said that PIA had taken steps to deal with issues raised earlier this year, which included the refurbishment of some of the operator’s older jets.
Jacques Barrot, Commission vice-president in charge of transport, said: “This latest revision shows that when airlines take rapid and sound corrective action to comply with safety standards, they can be withdrawn from the list quickly. It also shows that the list increasingly serves as a pre-emptive rather than punitive tool for safeguarding aviation safety.”
Remaining on the European black list are all Indonesian airlines, including national carrier Garuda, as well as all airlines from Equatorial Guinea, the Kyrgyz Republic, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Swaziland and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with the exception of one airline.
The European Commission’s black list is a cross border agreement on the publication of airline operators that it says can not enter into member states due to safety concerns.
