Daily Times

Ghulam Sarwar, Federal Minister for Aviation said that they initiated scrutiny process within Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) after a suo moto notice was taken by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on the matter.

The Aviation Minister said that “658 employees within PIA are found carrying forged degrees,” further adding that these also include 28 pilots and 96 engineers.

“Action is taken against 54 pilots of which 28 are expelled from the service and criminal proceedings will be launched against them,” he said adding that they have also received lists of pilots working abroad and verification of their credentials is ongoing. It is pertinent to mention here that European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on Tuesday apprised its third country operators regarding the issue of fraudulent licenses of Pakistani pilots and asked its members states to take action against pilots holding Pakistani licenses.

The EASA has written a letter to its 32 member countries regarding alleged “fraud related to pilot licences issued in Pakistan” and recommended not to schedule such pilots for flight operations.

The decision came after the Pakistan’s Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan revealed that 262 active commercial pilots hold ‘dubious’ flying licences. Following the announcement, PIA also grounded 141 pilots, Pakistani media reported.

The EASA also announced to suspend PIA’s authorisation to operate to the EU member states for a period of 6 months effective July 1.