Following Pakistan’s revelation of its pilots having fake licenses, the US department of transportation suspended Pakistan International Airline’s (PIA) special permit, expressing concerns over the flag carrier’s safety measures and pilots’ “suspicious licenses”.
“The PIA will not be able to operate its flights to the United States,” the US authority said in a statement adding that a ban has been placed on “all types of flights” operated by PIA.
PIA’s spokesperson confirmed the ban and said that the national carrier had received an email in this regard.
“We will address America’s concerns,” he said, adding that hopefully, the matter of pilots’ licenses will be resolved through ongoing corrective measures within the airline.
The move comes a few days after the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) suspended PIA’s permit for six months, UK barred PIA flights from three of its airports and Vietnam grounded all Pakistani pilots working in the country.
Similarly, Malaysia’s aviation regulatory authority had announced the temporary suspension of pilots who hold Pakistani licenses and were employed by its domestic airlines.
The UAE, meanwhile, sought verification of the CAA licenses granted to Pakistani staff working at its airports.
The suspension of PIA flights is the latest fallout in line to batter Pakistan’s international image.
A government review in June had found that 262 of the country’s 860 active pilots held fake licenses or cheated on exams, more than half of them were from PIA, following which the airline said it would immediately ground 141 of its 434 pilots.