Pak cancels licences of 50 pilots

Islamabad, December 20

The Pakistan Government has cancelled the licences of 50 pilots for flying with fake credentials and authorities will probe how they obtained the certificates through unfair means, the country’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has informed a top court here.

The issue of fake licences surfaced in the wake of the tragic crash of a Pakistan International Airlines plane in Karachi on May 22, killing 97 people, when Minister of Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan told the media that 260 of the country’s 860 active pilots had either fake licences or had cheated in their exams.

Their names were made public to avoid any negative impression about other pilots, including those working outside Pakistan. Dawn newspaper reported that authorities told the Islamabad high court that under the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, they have reviewed licences of 860 commercial pilots and cancelled 50 of them after a thorough scrutiny. — PTI