More than 30% of civilian commercial pilots in Pakistan have fake licenses and are not fully qualified to fly passenger planes, the country’s aviation minster said on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for the national carrier said those pilots who get their licenses verified will be allowed back on duty. “Grounding so many pilots will affect the PIA flight operation,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added they have already dismissed six pilots with fake degrees.
“We have asked the Civil Aviation Authority to send the list of the remaining licenses,” the spokesperson said. “We acknowledge the report and are working on making our standard better.”
In a letter to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), PIA chairman requested the aviation authority for details of the remaining pilots with dubious and fake commercial licenses.
“Action will be taken against all those pilots with fake licenses,” PIA chairman said, adding they will take all the necessary steps to make the commercial operation safe.
Earlier, PIA ‘acknowledged’ the preliminary report of the Karachi plane crash that left 97 people dead, saying that it would ground all pilots with “dubious licenses”.
“PIA acknowledges the AAIB report and have already taken measures learning from it. An independent Flight Data Monitoring setup established to monitor and analyse all flights. All pilots with dubious licenses will be grounded. Safety is more important than any commercial interest,” tweeted the national flag bearer on Wednesday.
