Pakistan wants PIA Flights Back as UK Pushes Grooming Gang Deportations

Pakistan has lobbied for its national airline, PIA, to resume flights to the UK, as British ministers press for the deportation of grooming gang offenders.

Three men born in Pakistan and convicted of grooming offences are at the centre of ongoing negotiations between London and Islamabad.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) remains barred from UK airspace due to longstanding safety concerns.

The state-run carrier, along with all Pakistani air operators, was added to the UK’s Air Safety List in December 2021.

That decision followed concerns about the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority’s compliance with international safety standards.

It is reported that ministers from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) raised the deportations in high-level meetings with Pakistani officials in May 2025.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy and FCDO Minister Hamish Falconer are said to have led the discussions.

Sources told GB News that the UK Government hopes to finalise plans to deport all three men before the publication of Baroness Louise Casey’s audit into grooming gangs next week.

The talks represent a shift in the Government’s approach, after previous criticism over its handling of deportations to countries that have refused to accept returning offenders.

Pakistani ministers are understood to have expressed concern that allowing the return of grooming gang members for the first time in over a decade could “open the floodgates”.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We will always do everything in our power to ensure that foreign nationals who commit heinous crimes in the UK are not left free on our streets after they complete their sentence, including seeking their deportation from the UK.

“The UK and Pakistan are working in partnership on shared migration and return priorities.

“Both countries recognise and respect our common obligations to return those with no right to remain in our respective countries.”

Labour’s tougher stance has not silenced criticism from opposition benches.

Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said it was “pathetic” that ministers were “getting on its knees and begging” Pakistan to take back offenders.

Jenrick said: “Despicable rape gang perpetrators should be deported as soon as their sentences are served and never step foot on British soil again.

“However it’s pathetic that the Government is getting on its knees and begging Pakistan to remove foreign rapists.”

“They should be withdrawing the £130 million of foreign aid the UK will pay to Pakistan this year or suspending issuing the more than 100,000 visas the UK will give to Pakistani nationals, which it has the power to do.

“Starmer should show some guts and use every lever of the British state to deport vile foreign criminals.”

The UK Government has continued to engage with Pakistani aviation officials over the airline ban.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said:

“All Pakistani air carriers remain on the UK Air Safety List.

“We are engaging with the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority, along with the UK Civil Aviation Authority, about their status on the list and there is a robust process to follow before airlines are delisted.”