CAA blames airlines for dubious pilots licenses issue

KARACHI: Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Friday blamed airline operators for being behind the entire fiasco of pilots’ dubious licenses, claiming that it happened after they were provided wrong information on the identities of the pilots from the airlines, ARY NEWS reported.

The CAA while quoting a report prepared by the audit team of the board of inquiry said that the licenses of pilots were suspended and they were grounded owing to the fault of the airline operators.

The remarks from the CAA came after the aviation authority today declared the licenses of 30 more pilots as clear and the Additional Director Licensing issued an official notification in this regard.

The board of inquiry thoroughly verified the Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL) and Commercial Pilot License (CPL) of the 30 pilots, who were earlier suspended over dubious licenses, and found that it happened after they were provided wrong IDs of the pilots from the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and two other private airlines.

The CAA said that action would be taken against airlines that provided wrong information leading to the entire mess up that also raised serious credibility issues for the Pakistani pilots abroad.

Read More: CAA cancels licenses of PIA pilots

On 15 July, Pakistan Airlines Pilots Association (PALPA) said that none of the pilots in Pakistan possesses dubious ATPL licenses.

Our point of view got vindicated once again after the Director General (DG) Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) conveyed to the DG CAA of Oman in a letter that none of the pilots in Pakistan possesses dubious ATPL licenses, said the pilots association.

The PALPA said that the letter quoted that none of the licenses is dubious and shows that the matter was not handled in an amicable manner.