{"id":13826,"date":"2025-07-16T12:04:05","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T12:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=13826"},"modified":"2025-07-16T12:04:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T12:04:05","slug":"efforts-underway-to-revive-pia-khawaja-asif","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=13826","title":{"rendered":"Efforts underway to revive PIA: Khawaja Asif"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday said efforts are under way to revive Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), including restoring its New York flight, as part of broader plans to privatise the national carrier and rebuild its reputation.<\/p>\n<p>He credited Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif\u2019s leadership for what he called a \u201chistoric milestone\u201d and announced that the airline would soon be offered to private bidders as a fully functional and valuable asset.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier today, United Kingdom\u00a0removed Pakistan from its Air Safety List, clearing the way for Pakistani airlines to apply for flight operations to the country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are completing all essential processes first to increase the airline\u2019s market value,\u201d he said, adding that the government had closely followed the guidance of aviation regulators to ease future approvals.<\/p>\n<p>Asif confirmed that once privatised, PIA would be equipped with new aircraft and given fresh international routes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOverseas Pakistanis will be able to travel home more easily,\u201d he said. \u201cBoth time and cost of travel will be reduced.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif personally monitored the revival process and received regular updates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany friends and colleagues worked hard to make this possible,&#8217; defence minister\u00a0said. \u201cToday marks a historic and memorable day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read:\u00a0UK removes Pakistan from air safety list<\/p>\n<p>The minister noted that PIA once transported deceased Pakistanis\u2019 bodies free of charge, a service now lost. \u201cNow families have to spend thousands of dollars,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a shock for the Pakistani diaspora. Many have now purchased burial plots abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Asif placed blame for PIA\u2019s decline on the previous Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government. \u201cA ban was imposed on us during their tenure,\u201d he said. \u201cGhulam Sarwar criticised his own department and effectively invited international bodies to impose a ban on Pakistan\u2019s airline.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo this day, he has not offered any explanation for his remarks,\u201d Asif said. \u201cImran Khan is also responsible for this outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said the ban caused financial losses worth billions of rupees, but more damaging was the blow to national dignity. \u201cOur trained staff had helped establish other airlines in the region,\u201d he noted. \u201cOne individual erased all of that hard-earned reputation. What was his reason? That remains a troubling question.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Asif said the issue was now being resolved and confirmed that Airblue had also been granted permission to operate internationally. He praised the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), saying the European Union had regained confidence in the body.<\/p>\n<p>He also lauded Khawaja Saad Rafique for his contributions to aviation reform over the past two to three years. \u201cToday, we stand vindicated,\u201d he concluded.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday said efforts are under way to revive Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), including restoring its New York flight, as part of broader plans to privatise the national carrier and rebuild its reputation. He credited Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif\u2019s leadership for what he called a \u201chistoric milestone\u201d and announced that the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13826\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}