CAA issued a statement on June 13, clarifying that all the ATL/ATPL pilot licences issued by the authority are ‘genuine’ and ‘validly’ issued. It noted that none of the pilot licences are fake, “rather the matter has been misconstrued and incorrectly highlighted in the media/social media”.
The authority said that they have already cleared 96 Pakistani pilots out of 104 names received from various civil aviation authorities working inside and outside the country. “It is pertinent to mention here that ‘zero tolerance’ shall be our policy in dealing with any confirmed case against whom legal process under the Pakistan Civil Aviation Rules, 1984 has been completed.”
In June, it was reported that the list CAA submitted to PIA regarding the pilots possessing ‘dubious’ licenses had a number of errors. The list contains names of 39 pilots who were no more associated with the national flag carrier, while some of them had died and others had retired.
Similarly, basic credentials of 36 pilots, including the name, employee number and CAA reference number were incorrect. The report termed 9 examination papers of three pilots for Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) as dubious, while there are a total of eight papers for the licensing.