Pakistan’s PIA seeks direct links to Australia

PIA – Pakistan International Airlines (PK, Islamabad Quaid-e-Azam Int’l) hopes to start direct flights to Australia in late March. If launched they will be carrier’s first services to Oceania.

According to ARY TV News, spokesman Abdullah Hafeez said the airline had approached the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) of Australia for permission to operate twice-weekly flights to Sydney Kingsford Smith from Karachi Int’l and Lahore Int’l in the last week of March or early April 2022, using B777s. Flights from Islamabad could be added later.

A CASA spokesperson said the regulator had not yet received an application from PIA for permission to commence flights to Australia but confirmed that PIA is codesharing with Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi Int’l) on its flights to Australia.

As things stand, there are no direct flights between Pakistan and Australia, meaning it takes up to 35 hours with stopovers in third countries to get from one to the other.

PIA’s international network currently spans the Middle East, China, Malaysia, the CIS, Europe, Canada, with military charters to Central Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

PIA’s international air safety reputation was ruined over a 2020 scandal involving fake pilot licenses. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) recently lifted its Significant Safety Concern (SSC) warning against Pakistan’s personnel licensing following an on-site audit between November 29 and December 10, 2021, conducted under its Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP). However, even though Pakistan is no longer on the European Union Air Safety List (ASL), the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has – for now – refused to set aside a ban on flights from Pakistan. Formal consultations are continuing between the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA), the European Commissions, and EASA under the remit of EU Air Safety List (ASL) regulations to address the overall oversight capacity of PCAA.