Malaysia suspends Pakistani pilots awaiting license confirmation from CAA

While Pakistani authorities are verifying the credentials of their pilots, Malaysia’s aviation regulator says it has temporarily suspended pilots with Pakistani licenses employed by local airlines.

Note that Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan had disclosed in Parliament that 262 pilots of Pakistan International Airlines had obtained ‘suspicious’ licenses, after which aviation authorities of different countries had issued notices to Pakistani pilots and Certificate of Engineers Degree is required.

The Malaysian Civil Aviation Authority (CAAM) said in a statement that the decision was made after screening all foreign pilots in Malaysia.

Talking to foreign news agency Reuters, the regulators said that there are less than 20 Pakistani pilots in the country.

National Airlines Malaysia Airlines, Malando Air and Air Asia said they had no Pakistani pilots working.

The pilots worked with local operators such as flying schools, flying clubs and training organizations, CAAM said.

He said he was working with his Pakistani counterpart to verify the license holders, including the pilot, passport number, Pakistani pilot license number, CAAM verification number (if available) and Malaysian license. Change of – PPL / CPL / ATPL number is being checked.

In an email to the Pakistan Aviation Authority, he said, “Currently, all operators have to temporarily suspend their pilots from flight operations whose licenses were issued by Pakistan and this will happen until Until their license is verified by the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA).

“Once the verification process is complete, CAAM will notify operators immediately for their reinstatement,” he said.

Review of records by Etihad Airways

Etihad Airways has stated that it is working with the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) of the United Arab Emirates to verify the qualifications and licenses of Pakistani pilots working for the airline. ۔

“While we are verifying the degrees of these pilots, we are taking further precautions with an additional audit,” he said.

A statement issued by the GCAA said it was reviewing its records to ensure that “suspicious licenses issued by the PCAA” did not enter its system. Are

The GCAA said it was in touch with Pakistani authorities but did not indicate whether it had taken preliminary action against licensed pilots in the country.

The issue of ‘suspicious’ pilot licenses

While presenting the investigation report of the Karachi passenger plane crash in the National Assembly on June 24, Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan had said that out of 860 pilots, 262 were found to have been replaced by someone else.

After which, on June 26, Pakistan grounded the pilots’ licenses for alleged forgery in the exams, calling them ‘suspicious’.

Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan had said in a press conference in Islamabad that “the pilots who have been questioned are 262, PIA has 141, Airblue has 9, Surin has 10, former Shaheen has 17 and others are 85”.

After which the PIA administration decided to ground 150 of its pilots.

Later, on June 29, the Aviation Authority of Vietnam grounded all Pakistani pilots for local airlines over concerns by international regulators about having “suspicious licenses” for pilots.

Following this, on June 30, the European Union Air Safety Agency (EASA) temporarily suspended the European International Airlines (PIA) European Air License for six months, effective July 3. ۔

On the same day, the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) removed the Pakistani airline from its ‘recommended list’.

Following this, on July 1, the Civil Aviation Authority of the United Kingdom announced a ban on Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flights from its three airports, while the United Arab Emirates also operated with the Civil Aviation Authority in various airlines. Requested verification of data of Pakistani pilots and engineers.

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