Pakistani pilots working in Malaysia reinstated after licence verification

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has verified that all the Pakistani pilots currently employed in the country hold valid licences and it has reinstated them with immediate effect, its aviation regulator said in a statement on Thursday.

The pilots were suspended earlier this month after a Pakistani minister shocked the aviation industry when he revealed the discrepancies in issuance of licences to the pilots.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia said 18 Pakistani pilot licence holders in Malaysia were verified by the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority.

Pakistan last month had grounded almost a third of its pilots after discovering they may have falsified their qualifications.

Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan, while briefing the National Assembly on the May 22 PIA plane crash, had said: “An inquiry which was initiated in February 2019 showed that 262 pilots did not take the exam themselves and asked someone else to take it on their behalf,” adding that the pilots did not have the proper flying experience either.

Soon after the statement, the national flag carrier was barred from entering the airspace of several countries and Pakistani pilots — who had received their credentials from the CAA — were grounded.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency had suspended Pakistan International Airlines’ (PIA) authorisation to fly to the bloc for six months in a major blow to the carrier’s operations.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also downgraded Pakistan’s air safety rating, while barring the PIA from entering the airspace. Meanwhile, the UK Civil Aviation Authority also suspended the national flag carrier’s operations from three airports — Birmingham, London Heathrow and Manchester.

Airlines in 10 countries had demanded proof of valid flying licences for their Pakistani pilots after the shocking statement from the minister.

In all, the foreign airlines asked for proof of 176 Pakistani pilot licences.

Of these, 166 "have been validated as genuine and certified by the CAA Pakistan as having no anomaly," the CAA had said in a statement.

The 10 airlines asking for proof of valid Pakistani pilots' licences were from Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Turkey, Malaysia, Vietnam and Hong Kong, according to the CAA.