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Pakistan International Airlines announced that they had suspended 150 of their pilots after acquiring fake licenses. The decision came after the fatal crash on May 22nd where the pilots have been held responsible.

The state-run airline has grounded 150 of their pilots after allegations have been made saying that those pilots are not qualified or have cheated to get their licenses. Some pilots have been accused of cheating by paying others to sit their exams, but PIA has not confirmed this as of publication. Pakistan’s Aviation Minister said in his preliminary report in parliament that mroe than 30% of all commercial pilots in the country have fake licenses which means 262 of 860 currently active pilots are not actually qualified to fly.

A spokesperson for the airline has stated that they have identified the pilots who carry fake licenses and the process of firing has commenced. After the report was made public by the minister, the airline has confirmed that the issue does not just affect them but also the whole Pakistani industry.

This is not the first time that PIA has fired pilots due to issues with their licenses since in 2019 they found that some of their pilots falsified their academic qualifications, but an investigation found that it was more than just pilots but rather several employees have falsified their qualifications. This airline has already got a bad safety record and this is now going to have a terrible impact on their reputation.