Fake licences: PIA likely to restore services of pilots cleared by CAA

 

KARACHI: The management of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is likely to add those pilots in its duty roster who have been cleared by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) regarding their licences, ARY News reported on Thursday.

However, the PIA spokesperson said in a statement that the management of the national carrier has not yet received the list of the pilots cleared for their licences.

It is yet to be disclosed whether the issue of fake licences issued by the Pakistani operators was created by the alleged negligence of the CAA or the aviation minister remained unaware about the wrong credentials of pilots including names and licence numbers.

Read: CAA cancels licenses of PIA pilots

27 out of 96 aviates from the national carrier turned out to be cleared of any suspicions pertaining the licences.

The aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan had revealed a list of 262 suspected pilots due to their dubious licences, however, the list was not uploaded on the CAA’s official website not the aviation authority took responsibility of it.

ARY News spotted the anomalies in the list which led the PIA chief executive officer (CEO) to order the administration for updating the records. Moreover, PALPA had raised serious questions over the issue of fake licences.

The scandal gave a major dent to the Pakistan’s aviation sector as many countries including Europe, Britain and United States (US) had banned flight operations of PIA on basis of the list comprising names of pilots allegedly holding fake licences.