After the Karachi plane crash in the month of May, there were new revelations in Pakistan about Pakistan International Airlines. The country's aviation minister Sarwar Khan had earlier alleged that 40% of the pilots were fake. A spokesperson for Imran Khan's party has said that everyone knew that PIA staff had been caught in much smuggling earlier.
The spokesperson was questioned about whether the pilots' accusations of fraud were a worldwide joke. He said that it is not like this. He said: 'When it came to us our crew was involved with the smuggling mafia which included the smuggling of drugs, currency and gold. Our pilots are also caught and they are charged. A party spokesperson has said that he is not making these accusations but that such incidents have been reported earlier.
After the Karachi crash, Sarwar Khan said an investigation last year showed that out of Pakistan's 860 active pilots, 262 pilots either had fake licenses or had cheated on their exams. He said that these pilots have never done an exam and neither have the right experience to fly the plane. Khan said that unfortunately, Pyots was appointed on political grounds. He said that the degrees of 4 PIA pilots had been found to be fake and merit was ignored at the time of appointment.
The European Union safety agency has suspended airlines from operating in Europe for the next six months, effective from July 1, 2020. "EASA has temporarily suspended PIA's authorization to operate to EU member states for a period of 6 months effective July 1, 2020, with the right to appeal against this decision," a PIA statement said, adding that PIA would discontinue all its flights to Europe temporarily. The decision was taken in light of the fake pilot licensing scandal in Pakistan.
