Malaysia asks CAA to provide information of pilots' licences

KARACHI: The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) has asked Pakistani authorities to provide information of pilots employed by the operator in view of recent reports of fake licences, ARY News reported on Thursday.

The Malaysian aviation authority warned to revoke licences of pilots who were issued licences by Pakistani operator if CAA failed to verify the information.

In its letter sent by CAAM deputy director of the flight operations division, CAA has been asked to submit the information of the pilots’ licences by July 3.

CAAM also issued directives to local operators to ‘temporarily suspend their pilot who is issued with Pakistan pilot licence from operating flights until their licences can be verified by Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority. Once verification has been carried out, the CAAM will inform operators for their reinstatement immediately.’

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The letter, obtained by ARY News, sought complete details of Pakistani pilots employed at 11 local institutions. It also stated that the Pakistani authorities should also provide the permission letter issued to the pilots by CAAM, as well as that the information of licence transfer to Malaysian licences.

The action of Malaysian aviation authority was followed by the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) that had sought details of the pilots’ licences from Pakistan.

On June 26, Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan had revealed that the total number of ‘suspicious pilots’ was 262 in different airlines including Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

Later on June 27, the Aviation Division had declared licences of 160 pilots from national flag-carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Airblue and SereneAir ‘suspicious’ and ordered the management of the airlines to immediate ground the aviates.

The aviation authority had issued directives to the management of the airlines to immediate ground the pilots who were possessing suspicious licences. The suspicious pilots include 141 from PIA, nine from Airblue and 10 from SereneAir.