The Aircraft Owners and Operators Association in Karachi has raised a significant demand concerning the restoration of Pakistan CAA’s pilots’ license examination system, according to a letter received by the secretary aviation. In the letter, there is a strong call for the termination of the contract with the British company responsible for conducting the pilot license exams, advocating for the resumption of PCAA’s in-house examination system.
This decision to outsource the pilot license exam to a foreign entity has faced staunch opposition from various stakeholders, including aircraft owners. Allegations in the letter suggest that PCAA authorities actively facilitated the outsourcing process to the British company, despite the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) recognizing the national CAA pilot license examination system as a global standard. The outsourcing decision has resulted in a significant increase in costs, with each paper now costing over Rs 30,000, leading to a total expense of over Rs 450,000 for the 14 papers of the Pilots License. This stands in stark contrast to the previous fee structure under PCAA, where the total fee for the 14 papers of the pilots’ license ranged between Rs 25,000 to 28,000.
