Wrong choice of wording, perhaps better to say it was all made worse and reputation further soiled publicly and internationally in the blink of an eye. Read below for my full argument.
It's not that they have fake licenses most of those that have been accused. As I understand it in my own admittedly limited understanding this is an issue caused by steps taken at the CAA and changes that weren't enforced properly. To say that so many pilots of PIA carry fake licenses is wrong, and to imply that they're all incapable of flying is absolutely and categorically wrong.
So CAA is in charge of giving licenses, if a pilot is certified to fly, this is the agency that governs this sector. The licenses in question are ATPLs, up until 2012, I believe there was no issue with the licensing issue that has been raised. Then the CAA added some exams on to the curriculum, requiring all pilots to go back and complete this. But it was never properly enforced. A lot of pilots found loop holes, others didn't sit, some sent their juniors on their behalf etc. Others whose names are on that list are deceased pilots, retired, and some carry APTLs from the US and abroad and didn't have Pakistani ones. But all of these pilots were trained from cadet pilots upwards, they all have I've heard quoted a minimum of flying 1500hrs. This is the standard procedure in all major countries, >1500hrs and an APTL. Different airlines can then add and enforce more requirements, and they generally do. But this dumbass minister gets up in NA, not doing his homework, says that all these pilots have fake licenses, categorically fake. And he's basically soiled the reputation of the entire airline industry in Pakistan, Pakistani pilots in general and abroad are being grounded everywhere. And int'l media took him at his word and ran headlines implying that 1/3 of our pilots have fake licenses.
Is there an actual problem? Yes, some pilots must have skipped some additional requirements made in 2012 or so by the CAA, or made shortcuts. Several may have even had 'dubious' licenses as PIA themselves said. Were most of these pilots licensed to fly and had hours under their belts already? Yes as I understand it. We've gone from that, to telling the world that our pilots forged their fake licenses and incapable of flying. This comes off of the back of the recent PIA crash investigation, which I may add is not at all complete. So really it's CAA where the problem is, of standards and enforcement. Our government has thrown entire airline industry and pilots under the bus. And then they had the courtesy to reverse over them to make sure they're absolutely dead. It's stunning and unprecedented incompetence.
I may be wrong on some details, but more knowledgeable people than I are basically assessing this as the situation.
I would suggest reading a little in detail if you're interested:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1566500
In fact, Pakistani members here who aren't understanding my objection need a read a little bit further. Nobody's saying PIA didn't have problems, we had multiple problems that haven't been addressed and have built up over years. This latest act by our minister was a example of reputation arson.
Absolutely, nobody is saying that our airline industry and PIA doesn't have it its problems. Our safety regulations are lax, CAA is a mess and needs a complete change, PIA has been mismanaged for years under successive governments, and its been a financial drain beyond any reasonable allowance.
But this latest step was the equivalent of taking a sickly organisation and sticking a final knife into it, along with a great deal of our int'l reputation.
