Aviation minister says EU's concerns regarding PIA have been addressed.

TAXILA -- The European Union Aviation Safety Agency's (EASA) concerns about the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) have been addressed, said Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said on Saturday, hoping that the ban imposed on PIA to operate flights to and from European countries would be lifted soon.

Addressing the media in Taxila, the federal minister said eight new planes are being added to the national airlines and the EU's concerns raised regarding the process of issuing licences to commercial pilots have been addressed.

The suspension imposed by Easa took effect on July 1, 2020, after it came to light that countless pilots possessed "fake" licences.

The ban was a big blow to PIA, which was already under scrutiny across the world due to the recently uncovered pitfalls within Pakistan's aviation industry.

In December, however, Easa had expressed its satisfaction over certain steps taken by the Civil Aviation Authority to improve the situation. Easa had said a further audit by the agency's officials was imperative to revoke the ban.

The startling revelations came as the aviation...