Most licences valid for Pakistani pilots working in 10 countries: CAA – Gulf Today

Most licences valid for Pakistani pilots working in 10 countries: CAA – Gulf Today

Most licences valid for Pakistani pilots working in 10 countries: CAA

3 hours ago

Airlines in 10 countries had demanded proof of valid flying licences for their Pakistani pilots. File

The Aviation Division said on Thursday they had confirmed the credentials of almost all Pakistani pilots working for foreign airlines, as the country battles a scandal over aviator licences.

Airlines in 10 countries had demanded proof of valid flying licences for their Pakistani pilots after it emerged about a third of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aviators were holding "bogus or suspicious" licences. In all, the foreign airlines asked for proof of 176 Pakistani pilot licences.

Of these, 166 "have been validated as genuine and certified by the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) Pakistan as having no anomaly," the agency said in a statement.

The "process for the remaining 10 shall be concluded by next week," it added.

Pakistan's civil aviation ministry grounded 262 pilots for "dubious" qualifications last month, prompted by a preliminary report into an airliner crash in Karachi in May that found the pilots had failed to follow standard procedures and disregarded alarms.

That crash killed 97 passengers and crew.

The ministry had said earlier that Pakistan has a total of 860 pilots, 107 of whom work for