CAA says all its pilot licences are ‘genuine’

Blames mainstream and social media for ‘misconstruing’ issue of dubious credentials

ISLAMABAD:

The Civil Aviation Authority on Wednesday informed its Omani counterpart that all commercial pilot licences (CPL) and airline transport pilot licences (ATPL) it had issued were “genuine” and the matter of dubious credentials had been “incorrectly highlighted” by mainstream and social media.

The regulatory body also said it had verified and cleared the licences of 96 pilots of the 104 names it had received from various foreign counterparts and international airlines.

 The CAA was asked to verify their credentials in in the wake of the government’s revelation last month that nearly a third of the country’s pilots had suspicious licences.

“All CPL/ATPL pilot licences issued by the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) are genuine and validly issued,” read a letter written by CAA Director General Hassan Nasir Jamy to Oman's Public Authority for Civil Aviation Air Traffic Control Services Director Mubarak Saleh al-Gheilani.

"None of the pilot licences are fake, rather the matter has been misconstrued and incorrectly highlighted in the media/social media,” Jamy added.

He further wrote that the CAA had already verified and cleared 96 Pakistani pilots of the 104 names it had received from various civil aviation authorities and foreign airlines including the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority, Vietnam Airlines, Bahrain Air, Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia, Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department and Turkish Airlines.

Jamy informed the Omani official that all licences issued to pilots by the CAA were certified and genuine.

“Some international airlines had sought the verification of 104 Pakistani pilots, of whom eight are yet to be cleared.”

The CAA DG said some discrepancies had arisen during the computerised examination of the licensing process in the forensic scrutiny, leading the authority to ground the suspected pilots and take them off from flying duties.

“The 'suspect' pilots have been asked to defend their licences in accordance with the Pakistan Civil Aviation Rules, 1994,” he added.

"All this was done keeping in view the highest concerns about air safety all over the world, and also to ensure that questions raised in respect of an identified class of pilots does not prejudice hundreds of Pakistani pilots flying aircraft most professionally and safely within and outside Pakistan.”

A day earlier, the CAA had announced that it had cleared the licences of 21 Pakistanis flying for different foreign airlines. The 21 pilots included 18 working with Oman’s SalamAir and three with Hong Kong Airlines.

The civil aviation authorities of Oman and Hong Kong had requested the CAA to verify the credentials of the Pakistani pilots working with these airlines.

The regulatory body had also verified the licences of 48 of the 54 Pakistani pilots working in the UAE.

UAE General Civil Aviation Authority Director General Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi had requested the verification of the credentials of Pakistani pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers, and flight operations officers working in the Middle Eastern country in a June 29 letter to Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority Director General Hassan Nasir Jamy.

According to the Aviation Division, it has cleared licences of 95% Pakistani pilots working with different airlines in seven countries.

The regulatory body and national carrier are continuing to repair the damage to their credibility inflicted by Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan’s last month last month that about 262 Pakistani pilots had suspicious credentials.

According to sources, the aviation regulator of Oman had warned that the PIA could be barred from using its airspace if the Pakistani authorities failed to satisfy it about its measures to ensure the safety of flights in the wake of the suspicious licences controversy.

The aviation authorities of Malaysia and Vietnam have already grounded holders of Pakistani pilot licences working in local airlines.

Ethiopian Airlines has also sought an explanation from Pakistan.

The European Union Air Safety Agency (EASA) has suspended PIA’s authorisation to operate in EU member states for six months expressing concerns over the minister’s statement.

Following the EASA’s move, the UK Civil Aviation Authority said it was withdrawing PIA’s permit to operate from three of its airports. “PIA flights from Birmingham, London Heathrow and Manchester airports are suspended with immediate effect,” a spokesperson for the authority told Reuters. The three were major flying destinations for the airline.

Later, the United States also imposed a ban on flights of the national flag carrier for six months citing dubious licences.

The PIA was operating 23 flights to UK every week – nine to London, 10 to Manchester and four to Birmingham.

The national carrier’s destinations in Europe included Paris, Milan, Barcelona, Oslo and Copenhagen.

The airline will incur a loss of Rs33 billion because of the ban. It is already facing loss of Rs12 billion because it will not be operating Hajj flights this year. The suspension of flights for Umrah passengers has also affected its revenue.