CAA has said that it has verified and cleared the licenses of 96 pilots out of the 104 names it received from various foreign counterparts and international carriers.
In last month, Pakistani pilots made headlines all over the world when the country’s Aviation Minister claimed that 40 percent of pilots in the country possess dubious licenses which followed by Pakistan International Airline grounding 150 of its pilots over dubious licenses and dismissed some employees over having fake degrees and many countries banning flights from Pakistan.
After month long investigation now Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has announced that out of 104 pilots, 96 pilots have been verified whose names were provided by overseas counterparts and international carriers. Remaining 8 are still under inquiry.
The moment Pakistan International Airline grounded its pilots; international carriers also followed the drill here, here and grounded Pakistani pilots and staff and demanded verification from CAA over their licenses.
DG CAA wrote a letter to clarify the licenses issue of pilots
The Director General of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Hassan Jamy wrote a letter to Mubarak Saleh al-Gheilani who is the director for air traffic control service at Oman Public Safety Authority for Civil Aviation in which he claims that:
“Crucial to clarify that all CPL / ATPL pilot licenses issued by the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) are genuine and validly issued. None of the Pilot Licenses are fake, rather the matter has been misconstrued and incorrectly highlighted in the media / social media, The PCAA has already verified/cleared 96 Pakistani pilots out of 104 names received from various civil aviation authorities / foreign airlines (UAE / GACA, Vietnam Airlines, Bahrain Air, Civil Aviation Malaysia, Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department and Turkish Airlines)”.
In conclusion, the news is not just a relief for pilots who are being cleared but also for CAA as their credibility was at stake. Out of 104 names, 8 are still under investigation and verification will be completed very soon.
