Malaysia bars Pakistani pilots from flying aircraft

After the European Union, Malaysia has also barred Pakistani pilots from flying aircraft with immediate effect, a statement issued by the Malaysian civil aviation authority said.

Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) chief executive Capt Chester Voo said that the suspension came after an admission by Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan that about one in three active Pakistani pilots holds fraudulent licences.

The official statement, quoting the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority, said that 262 out of 860 active Pakistani pilots had not sat for the pilot exams themselves, and as high as 40% of pilots, including inactive ones, held fake licences.

"In light of this, a number of countries have announced their decision to ground Pakistani pilots and ban Pakistan International Airlines from operating flights in and out of their countries.

"CAAM is currently making all efforts to verify with PCAA on the authenticity of these Pakistani licence holders," Capt Voo said.

Licence holders, who are verified as genuine by PCAA, would be reinstated immediately in a joint process between CAAM and PCAA, he added.

Earlier, the European Union Air Safety Agency (EASA) had also suspended the authorisation for Pakistan’s national airline to operate in Europe for six months.

“EASA has temporarily suspended PIA’s authorisation to operate to the EU member states for a period of 6 months effective July 1, 2020, with the right to appeal against this decision,” a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) statement said.

The PIA would discontinue all its flights to Europe temporarily, it added.

The EASA told PIA “it is still not sure” if all the remaining pilots are properly qualified, and “they have lost their confidence” in the airline, PIA spokesman Abdullah Khan told AFP.

In a statement, the EASA said it had suspended PIA and a smaller private Pakistan airline "in view of the recent investigation reported on in the Pakistani parliament which revealed that a large share of pilot licences issued in Pakistan are invalid".

The PIA has only flown limited international flights for months as a result of the coronavirus.

A resumption of domestic operations last month was followed by a crash blamed on pilot error that killed 98 people.

The natinoal carrier had recently resumed bookings for five European capitals cities, including Paris, Milan and Barcelona.

Flights to Britain, which is no longer in the EU, had not been affected, Abdullah said.

The story originally appeared in The Star.