PIA sacks seven pilots, an airhostess

KARACHI: The Pakistan International Airlines sacked on Saturday seven of its pilots after their licenses were cancelled by the Civil Aviation Authority earlier in the day.

A PIA official confirmed that the pilots, including an air hostess, have been sent termination letters, local media reported. The CAA director-general issued license revocation letters after the government’s approval.

The Airline Transport Pilot licences of 48 PIA pilots had been suspended earlier without show cause notices while they were given two weeks to file their reply. Earlier, in 2019 the PIA had already grounded 17 pilots, the national carrier official said.

In the last week of June, the federal aviation minister said that 262 or 30% of Pakistan’s 860 pilots have “fake” licenses. Sharing details of what he described as corruption within the CAA, the federal minister said 34 had not appeared in any of the eight exams, a requirement to qualify for a licence. And 28 were suspected of having fake degrees. His pronouncements came to the fore weeks after PK-8303, operated by Pakistan International Airlines, crashed in Karachi, killing 97 people.