ISLAMABAD: The Civil Aviation Authority today (Thursday) has confirmed that almost 10 countries had sought verifications of licences of Pakistani Pilots.
According to a press release, the Aviation Division informed that the countries, which sought verifications of the credentials include Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Malaysia, Vietnam, Ethiopia and Hong Kong.
The press release stated that the foreign airlines sought details of 176 Pakistani pilots who had received licences from the Pakistan Aviation Authority.
The spokesperson Abdul Sattar Khokhar said, “Of these166 have been validated as genuine and certified by the CAA Pakistan as having no anomaly. The process for the remaining 10 shall be concluded by next week.”
The CAA spokesperson said that the Pakistani government had directed to ground 262 pilots over the issue of suspected licences. The federal cabinet members had approved the suspension of licences of 28 aviates.
Earlier on July 15, the CAA acting director-general, Hassan Nasir Jamy, said that all commercial/airline transport pilots licences (CPL/ATPL) it issued were genuine and validly issued.
“It is important to clarify that all CPL/ATPL pilot licences issued by the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority are genuine and validly issued. None of the pilot licences are fake, rather the matter has been misconstrued and incorrectly highlighted in the media/social media,” wrote CAA Director General Hassan Nasir Jamy in a letter dated July 13 to a high-ranking aviation official of Oman.
Last month, Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan sent shockwaves through the industry by revealing that some 260 pilots had dubious licences.
The announcement came a month after a PIA plane crashed into houses in Karachi, killing 98 people.
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