Islamabad –
National airline Pakistan was in the spotlight after it was revealed that almost a third of its pilots held fake or dubious licenses. Some observers wondered if the struggling national airlines could survive the scandal.
The Pakistani International Airlines (PIA) said this week it would soon meng-grounded 141 of the 434 pilots, after a government review found they had obtained “fake” or cheating credentials in an exam by asking someone else to take the exam.
The scandal occurred after a PIA plane crash in the city of Karachi last month, which killed 98 people – and the authorities basically blamed the two aircraft pilots.
As reported by the news agency AFPOn Saturday (6/27/2020), investigators said the two pilots were chatting about the Corona virus when they tried to land an Airbus A320 aircraft without lowering its wheels, damaging the engine simultaneously.
The plane lost power and crashed into people’s homes near Karachi airport.
According to a government review last year, the details of which were revealed this week, 262 of 860 active Pakistani pilots held fake or fraudulent licenses in examinations.
More than half come from government-managed PIA.
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