A major airline which has been absent from the UK for five years has made its return. A Pakistan International Airways Boeing 777 flight landed in Manchester from Islamabad on Saturday.
The airline resumed flights to the UK after a ban which was imposed following a scandal involving fraudulent pilot licences. Since June 2020, the airline has faced a ban from the UK and the EU, which was implemented after a deadly crash in Karachi which killed nearly 100 people. After this, it was revealed that some pilots had fake licences. The EU ban was lifted in November 2024, after security checks. The first flight to the UK only took place after months of inspections and reforms.
Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif said: “The flight to Manchester is a remarkable beginning, but we are firmly determined to start flights to London and Birmingham next.”
Mr Asif said the flights were crucial for more than 1.4million Pakistanis in Britain and Europe.
“Providing them with direct flights is both a moral and national duty,” he added.
“These services will save them time, offer reasonable fares, and provide direct air links to their homeland.”
Chris Woodroofe, the managing director at Manchester Airport, said: “We know hundreds of thousands of passengers from our catchment area travel to Pakistan every year but don’t have the option of enjoying the benefits of a direct connection.
“Our partnership with Pakistan International Airlines puts that right and adds Islamabad to our route network of more than 200 destinations served by 50-plus airlines.
“This new route will be a real boost to the region’s Pakistani community and opens up an easy way for tourists to visit an exciting country.”
In 2020, it was reported that nearly a quarter of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) pilots were found not to hold valid licences.
An investigation following the Karachi air disaster, in which all passengers and crew lost their lives, revealed that 262 of 850 pilots had potentially fake licences.
Pakistan International Airlines isn’t the only carrier that’s been banned from flying in the UK.
At the start of 2025, a total of 23 countries had airlines which were prohibited from landing in the UK. The two countries with the largest number were Russia and Nepal.