LAHORE/KARACHI: Anticipating a possible action by the European Union, the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has written to foreign missions and global regulatory and safety bodies, assuring them it has taken stringent steps for the safety of passengers and grounded 105 pilots suspected of obtaining licences through unfair means.

The PIA says it has taken action against a total of 141 pilots with dubious licences. Out of them 105 were serving in the organisation while the remaining pilots had either retired or resigned.

The list includes the names of the pilot and co-pilot of the aircraft involved in the Havelian air crash of 2016 in which all 47 aboard, including singer-turned-preacher Junaid Jamshed, lost their lives, raising a question mark over the document that has apparently been prepared in haste by the aviation ministry without separating the serving from the retired, resigned and killed pilots.

Some pilots whose names are on another list of 265 pilots “for faking their test results”, say they will move the court against the authorities concerned for defaming them.

Says 105 pilots with dubious credentials grounded; Palpa calls for judicial commission to probe alleged fake licences

“Keeping in mind that a strong opponent group in the European Union has been lobbying against PIA to ban it for Europe, the national flag carrier has taken the toughest and harshest measures related to the safety of our passengers and grounded (and barred) 105 pilots from operating flights forthwith, after their licences were found to be dubious,” PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez told Dawn on Saturday.

He said of the 141 such pilots, 29 had retired and five resigned. “The retired pilots with dubious licences will not be able to fly PIA planes,” he added.

Mr Hafeez said a letter had also been sent to all heads of foreign missions in Pakistan, international aviation regulators and safety monitoring agencies, informing them about the stringent safety measures it had taken, including action against the pilots with dubious credentials.

The letter was written by PIA’s chief executive officer Air Marshal Arshad Malik who assured them the airline would remain compliant with all international aviation safety and regulatory standards.

When asked whether or not some Gulf airlines had stopped the Pakistani pilots from flying aircraft, Mr Hafeez said: “These are only rumours.”

Another official said that PIA was a victim in this case as it was the Civil Aviation Authority that had issued the licences to pilots. “PIA has to face the music for CAA’s gross mistake,” he added.

According to Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan, the government has asked various commercial airlines, flying clubs and charter companies to ground a total of 262 pilots until investigations/forensic analyses into their qualifications are completed. “The move to ground the pilots will help allay global concerns,” he said.

Pilot Khalid Tanwir Ahmad Khan told Dawn he retired in 2014 after 25 years of service with PIA and had a clean and safe career record. “I am surprised to see my name on the list released by the CAA about fake licence holders serving in PIA and other airlines. This list includes so many retired pilots, who got retired from service during the last few years and were enjoying a respectable retired life with their families and in society. Release of their names in a careless manner without proper scrutiny has put us in an awkward position within our circle of family and friends.”

Mr Khan said he would challenge this act in a court of law. “I challenge CAA to check and verify my academic degrees. I obtained both my flying licences (CPL and ATPL) by appearing in CAA examination centres in a personal capacity and cleared the papers. I had topped in all the CAA courses during my service, including foreign courses from England and Sweden. All documents, certificates and records are available. I ask CAA to remove my name from this list and launch investigations in this regard,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Airline Pilots Association (Palpa) has requested the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) to set up a judicial commission to hold an investigation into the alleged fake licences of pilots.

“The commission that should be comprised of competent persons and experts of the aviation sector should begin their probe from us. All pilots of the Pakistan International Airlines are ready to present themselves before any inquiry ordered by the superior judiciary,” said Palpa president Captain Chaudhry Salman in a statement.

He said that Palpa did not want to defend 141 pilots of the PIA — whose names are included in the list of a total of 262 pilots who allegedly possessed dubious licences — but it wanted to save the honour of Pakistani aviation industry as well as the country and to defend the honour of pilots.

About the pilots’ list reportedly released by the Aviation Division, Palpa said a major portion of that list was “dubious and unrealistic” and this was an evidence of the failure of our institutions and reflective of the negative thinking of a particular group.

The statement said Palpa condemned the recent statements of the aviation minister, saying by mentioning such a list he wanted to divert the attention of the people and stakeholders from the recent PK-8303 crash in Karachi.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2020