‘Over 30 percent of Pakistan’s pilots have fake licenses’

Over 30 percent of Pakistan’s civilian pilots have fake licenses and are unqualified to fly, said the country’s aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar.

Pakistan has 860 pilots actively serving its domestic airlines. 262 of those pilots turn out not to have real licenses, according to a recent survey. For example, there are pilots who have had insufficient practical training, have been given a political appointment as a pilot or have not actually taken their exams themselves.

Roughly 50 Pakistani pilots have been accused of flying without qualification by the Pakistan Aviation Authority. Nine of the accused pilots have admitted being guilty to this.

The number of fraudulent pilots allegedly include pilots employed by the country’s national airline, Pakistan International Airlines. Although the investigation into Pakistani pilots has been going on for some time, the issue is brought to light by the crash of a PIA Airbus A320 earlier this year. The cause of the crash has not yet been confirmed.