In an important development in connection with the start of flights from Pakistan to the UK and the countries, part of the European Union (EU), a state-of-the-art screening system has been installed at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Sunday.

The system has been installed with the cooperation of the UK government.

Last month, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had passed an initial audit by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), bringing the national flag carrier one step closer to resuming flights to the UK.

The UK's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will now conduct a physical audit of the PIA later in this month (September).

If the airline passes the CAA's audit in September, the final barrier to PIA operating flights to the UK will be removed, and it may also pave the way for the resumption of flights from Pakistan to the US and Canada once more.

Large parts of PIA's international route network were suspended in June 2020 on account of the fake pilot license scandal, which saw 262 of the country's pilots suspended, including 141 from PIA.

Also a month ago, then Aviation Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique had said that the Pakistan International Airlines was likely to resume flights to Britain in the next three months.

Rafique told parliament that new legislation this week had removed the final hurdle in the way of the national flag carrier to fly to the United Kingdom.

He, however, said that the resumption of services to Britain did not include other European destinations.

Reporter Saeed Ahmad