KARACHI: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has barred 17 pilots from flying after the federal government decided to take action against 150 aviators for possessing “dubious” licenses, an airlines spokesperson told Arab News on Thursday.

“We have already stopped 17 pilots from operating our flights since they lacked proper qualification according to our internal investigations,” PIA’s Abdullah Khan said. “We are now waiting for a complete list of such individuals – 150 employees altogether – who will be immediately grounded.”

Asked why the airlines did not act against these pilots earlier, he said: “The Civil Aviation Division launched the inquiry on PIA’s insistence after the airlines identified 17 pilots on its own.”

Khan added that it had become a big issue since the pilots with “dubious” licenses not only flew PIA aircrafts but also served other air carriers.

“It has emerged as a huge safety challenge,” he continued, “since many of these pilots have also been flying aircrafts of other airlines, including international ones.”

The spokesperson agreed that the PIA flight operations would be “badly affected” by sidelining 150 out of 425 pilots, but he also added that safety was a priority.

“We do not want further air crashes, so the airlines will have a zero-tolerance policy even if it goes against our commercial interests,” he said.

A preliminary inquiry report into a recent crash of a PIA commercial flight in Karachi, which killed 97 people aboard, was shared with the media by the country’s aviation division on Wednesday wherein the tragedy was blamed on the “lack of focus” and “overconfidence” of pilots.

“Several warnings and alerts related to speed, landing gear and ground proximity were disregarded [by the air crew],” revealed the 21-page report.

Shortly after the crash, critics and opposition members lambasted Prime Minister Imran Khan and his administration for its failure to improve the national flag carrier’s performance and skills of its technical staff, including pilots.

The country has a spotty record of aviation safety, and it has witnessed frequent plane and helicopter crashes over the years.

The PIA Airbus A320 crashed last month in a densely populated residential neighborhood in Karachi that is situated near the Jinnah International Airport, killing all but two of the 97 people on board. The ill-fated flight PK8303 from Lahore came down about a kilometer short of the runway on its second attempt to land.

Pakistan has witnessed 12 plane crash incidents since its inception in 1947, and the minister for aviation, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, attributed the staggering statistics to the lack of merit in PIA while speaking in parliament on Wednesday.

“Unfortunately, the degrees of four of our pilots were found bogus while forty percent pilots have fake licenses,” he revealed while vowing to restructure the national airlines and take action against all those responsible for making “political appointments.”

Reacting to the situation, the Pakistan Airline Pilots’ Association (PALPA) welcomed the government’s decision to act against its members with bogus degrees and fake licenses but also demanded to apply the same principle to other management positions within the airlines.

“This will end the culture of nepotism in the airlines and help in its development,” noted the statement while adding that “show-cause notices should also be issued to officers holding administrative posts who do not meet the criteria for their posts.”

The statement maintained that the “campaign” against the degrees of PIA pilots was actually launched to “victimize” those who had disagreements with the incumbent management of the airlines.

Noting that such organizational attitude caused “mental fatigue” to the cockpit crew, it added that any action against the pilots “should not create an environment which shows that the management is taking unilateral and unjustified steps.”

“Fraudulent deals and contracts are damaging the airlines, so the management should also work against it and the pilot community will support it in eradicating corruption in the airlines as well,” the statement continued. “This will definitely improve the airlines’ credibility.”