Malaysia temporarily suspends Pakistani pilots over fake licences

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has temporarily suspended pilots holding licenses from Pakistan after it emerged that many hold dubious licenses and continued to operate flights.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) after an evaluation of all foreign pilots in Malaysia stated that there are less than 20 Pakistani pilots in the country.

It added that it does not have any Pakistani pilot, Malindo Air, the Malaysian arm of Indonesia’s Lion Air, said that it does not have any foreign pilots, and AirAsia said it does not have any Pakistani pilot.

The move came after Pakistan grounded almost a third of its pilots after discovering they may have falsified their qualifications. Over 140 pilots were restricted from flying with immediate effect for holding suspicious or bogus licenses.

Read more: Over 141 pilots restricted from flying over bogus licenses

CAAM said that it is making efforts with its Pakistani counterpart to verify the authenticity of the license holders. “Licence holders that are verified as valid by (the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority) will be reinstated immediately,” it said.

Since 1965, PIA has suffered 10 major crashes and several minor incidents. Inquiries have been held but they do not seem to have led to any improvements.