EU suspends Pakistan International Airlines from operating in Europe for 6 months

In a major development on Tuesday, the European Union (EU) air safety agency has suspended Pakistan International Airlines (PLA) from operating in Europe from July 1 for the next six months. This comes after Pakistan's Civil Aviation Minister admitted that more than 30% of the country's civilian pilots have fake licences and are not qualified to fly. Moreover, the PLA has also been hit by another scam where officials have been accused of making about 8 million PKR in the sale of false tickets for special flights to Europe. 

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PKR 8 million scam hits PIA 

Pakistani media on Tuesday reported that some officials at the Sialkot PIA office accommodated some 50 old ticket holders for their travel to Italy and Paris on special flights in violation of rules to mint money. However, as per policy, the state-owned airline has not been accommodating passengers having tickets issued prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, (since mid-March) for any destination. "Through this fraud the officials also deprived the PIA of a huge sum of money," Pakistan's daily Dawn reported on Tuesday. 

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'30% Of Pilots Have Fake License'

Making a huge revelation on Thursday, Pakistan's Civil Aviation Minister informed that more than 30% of civilian pilots have fake licences and are not qualified to fly. Addressing the National Assembly, Ghulam Sarwar Khan said 262 pilots in the country 'did not take the exam themselves' and had paid someone else to sit it on their behalf. The revelation came in the background of the recent plane crash in Karachi that left 97 people onboard the flight dead. 

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As per reports in international media, the aviation minister informed that the pilots have zero flying experience and that the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has grounded all its pilots who hold fake licences with immediate effect. Ghulam Khan also highlighted that country has 860 active pilots serving domestic airlines whereas there are a number of foreign carriers as well. 

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