Daily Times

Pakistan’s national carrier has grounded almost a third of its pilots after a government investigation revealed that hundreds across the country had fake licenses and were not qualified to fly.

In a letter to the government Friday, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) said 141 of its 450 pilots will not be “utilized for any flying duties” as they had “suspicious licenses.”

The letter sent by PIA GM, Syed Qamar Maqbool, was shared on Monday by the company’s spokesperson, Abdullah Khan. On Wednesday last week, Pakistan Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said 262 pilots in the country “did not take the exam themselves” and had paid someone else to sit it on their behalf. “They don’t have flying experience,” he said.

Pakistan has 860 active pilots serving its domestic airlines including PIA as well as a number of foreign carriers, Khan said. He also told that all major airlines across Pakistan had been supplied “lists with names” of the fake pilots, along with a request that “action” should be taken to “prevent them from flying.” So far, PIA is the only carrier to take action.

The results of the investigation were announced as part of a preliminary report into a plane crash that killed 97 people on May 22. The PIA flight from Lahore crashed in the southern city of Karachi, killing all but two of the passengers and crew on board. Khan did not clarify if the two pilots on flight PK 8303 held fake licenses.