ICAO says Pakistan resolves ‘significant safety concern’

KARACHI: The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) said Pakistan had successfully resolved significant safety concern that emerged from grounding of a large number of commercial pilots on suspicion of fake licences, officials said on Wednesday.

The ICAO in a letter to Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said its validation committee had reviewed actions and relevant evidence validated in Pakistan.

“The Committee determined that the actions taken by Pakistan had successfully resolved SSC (significant safety concern), ”ICAO’s letter said. CAA spokesperson Saifullah Khan said the CAA has started contacting UK CAA and European Commission to convey resolution of safety concerns by ICAO.

“It will be emphasised to permit operations of Pakistani registered airlines to the UK and Europe at the earliest possible,” he Khan. “The CAA expects UK and the EU would issue permissions on fast track.” Khan said the country’s aviation watchdog would start pilots’ examinations by the end of March followed by issuance of licenses. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), in 2020, grounded at least 262 pilots over claims they may not hold a valid licence after the then aviation minister told parliament that a large number of commercial pilots hold fake licences or cheated in exams.

The revelation came as an initial report into a PIA crash that killed 97 people a month earlier found the cause to be human error by the pilot and air traffic control.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) immediately took notice and discontinued TCO (Third Country Operator) authorisation for Pakistani carriers. The USA also downgraded Pakistan to category 2 which means no Pakistan origin aircraft was allowed to enter US territory.

Right after EASA ban, efforts were made to allay their concerns. Direct audits from EASA and indirect adherence to safety standards for all other affiliated agencies such as IATA (International Air Transport Association), Department of Transport UK, which were later cleared, initiated.

Then they put forth a condition that CAA was not compliant to ICAO standards, highlighted by ICAO since November 2020 on pilots licensing and other regulatory issues.

“Withdrawal of Significant Safety Concern raises the possibility of the European Union lifting a ban on civil aviation from Pakistan,” CAA’s Khan said. “ICAO ranked 72.77 percent during the CAA audit, which is a good score. During the CAA audit, ICAO expressed satisfaction,” he added.

A nine-member ICAO committee carried out a 10-day audit in Pakistan, which was concluded in early December.

PIA issued a statement citing chief executive Arshad Malik as welcoming the ICAO conclusion as a positive development for aviation in Pakistan, which would pave the way for the resumption of PIA flights to Britain and the rest of Europe.