The Pakistan International Airlines has sacked seven of its pilots after their licenses were canceled by the Civil Aviation Authority.
A spokesman for PIA confirmed that the pilots, including an air hostess, have been sent termination letters. The CAA director-general issued license revocation letters after the government’s approval, the spokesman man added.
The Airline Transport Pilot licenses of 48 PIA pilots had been suspended earlier without show cause notices while they were given two weeks to file their reply. In the last week of June, the federal aviation minister said that 262 or 30% of Pakistan’s 860 pilots have “fake” licenses.
Sharing details of what he described as corruption within the CAA, the federal minister said 34 had not appeared in any of the eight exams, a requirement to qualify for a license. And 28 were suspected of having fake degrees. His pronouncements came to the fore weeks after PK-8303, operated by Pakistan International Airlines, crashed in Karachi, killing 97 people.
On Saturday, the Vietnam government had confirmed that all Pakistani pilots working for Vietnamese airlines had valid and legitimate licenses.
