Pakistani pilots temporarily suspended by Malaysia over ‘dubious licenses’ revelation

Malaysia’s aviation regulator on Thursday has temporarily suspended pilots employed by domestic airlines who hold Pakistani licenses after the government of Pakistan admitted that many pilots had dubious qualifications.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) said in a statement that the decision came after an assessment of all foreign pilots in the country. The regulator told the foreign news agency that there are less than 20 Pakistani pilots in Malaysia.

However, the CAAM did not say where the pilots worked.

National carrier Malaysia Airlines, in its statement on the issue, said that it does not have any Pakistani pilot, Malindo Air, the Malaysian arm of Indonesia’s Lion Air and AirAsia, also denied that it employed Pakistani pilots.

Last week, Pakistan grounded almost a third of its pilots after discovering they may have forged their licenses. Pakistan has a total of 860 pilots, 107 of whom work for foreign airlines.

Global concern has mounted since the Pakistani government’s admission, with countries grounding pilots from Pakistan and seeking to verify their credentials.