THE Civil Aviation Authority on Wednesday informed its Omani counterpart that all commercial pilot licences (CPL) and airline transport pilot licences (ATPL) it had issued were “genuine” and the matter of dubious credentials had been “incorrectly highlighted” by mainstream and social media. The regulatory body also said it had verified and cleared the licences of 96 pilots of the 104 names it had received from various foreign counterparts and international airlines.
It is satisfying that at the end of the day the scandalous allegations of fake licenses by pilots of PIA and other Pakistani pilots have proved wrong. However, irreparable damage has been done to the reputation of PIA and integrity of Pakistani pilots working in different airlines of the world and despite verification/clearance by CAA it would take a long time to undo the damage. Oman’s Public Authority for Civil Aviation, UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority, Vietnam Airlines, Bahrain Air, Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia, Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department and Turkish Airlines did well by referring the matter to CAA for verification but there are other airlines that either suspended Pakistani pilots and staff or expelled them altogether on suspicion of having fake degrees and licenses. The CAA has claimed that the issue was incorrectly highlighted by mainstream and social media but it would be wrong to put the blame on media when the Government itself made revelation that one-third of the licenses were fake. This wild and generalized allegation played havoc with the future of PIA and careers of Pakistani pilots and other staff working in foreign airlines. The reputation of the country was also badly bruised due to unwise statement of the Minister concerned. It is because of this ill-advised approach that previously European Union suspended PIA flights and now the United States has downgraded Pakistan by one notch in global aviation. Responsibility for all this should be fixed and heads must roll for damaging interests of the country irreparably.
