Pakistan International Airlines clears 110 pilots suspended licenses

PIA representative and the supreme court Pakistan and RMA & Co. advocate, Senior advocate Salman Akram Raja said that PIA has cleared their 110 pilots from the backdrop of the fake degree controversy. A total of 141 pilot licenses had been reviewed.

The flying licenses were suspended in the framework of the fake degree controversy, that arouse due to the tragic PIA plane crashed on 22 May in Karachi. In June, Minister of Aviation Mr. Ghulam Sarwar Khan said that more than 262 Pakistani pilots either hold fake licenses or had cheated their exams to get the licenses. It including 141 pilots from PIA, 9 from Air Blue, and 10 from Serene Air. Other pilots are flying clubs, chartered plane services, or foreign airline affiliates.

The petition on the fake license controversy was heard by 3 judges headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed in IHC. The case was appealed by PIA Chief Executive Officer Air Marshal Arshad Malik against a Sindh High Court order. Senior advocate Salman said, that PIA had cleared 110 pilots until now and PIA has canceled the licenses of 15 pilots due to 14 of them are unfit to fly. He said that a few cases are still pending for decisions.

With the suspension of the flying licenses, the European Union had banned the flight flying from PIA to Europe in the month of June.