Fake pilot scandal prompts US to block Pakistan’s PIA

Bloomberg

Pakistan’s national airline has been barred from flying to the US as a result of a scandal in which almost one-third of the nation’s pilots were found to have faked certifications.
The US Transportation Department notified Pakistan International Airlines Corp.’s lawyers in Washington that its authorisation to operate to U.S. destinations was being immediately suspended. The department released a copy of the letter.
PIA has been wracked by years of financial losses and on May 22 suffered a fatal crash in which 98 people died after pilots of an Airbus SE jet inexplicably retracted the landing gear just before touchdown, damaging its engines. The flight crew tried to lift off again, but the engines failed a short time later.
Pakistan said last month that 262 out of over 850 airline pilots had fake certificates and didn’t sit in the qualification exams themselves that are conducted by the regulator. The South Asian nation fired 28 pilots this week while it continues to investigate the rest.
The Federal Aviation Administration had notified the department on June 30 that all of PIA’s operations to the US should be terminated as a result of the pilot-certification scandal.
PIA was flying special flights from destinations including New Jersey and Chicago in June to fly stranded passengers as nations imposed travel restrictions to curb the virus from spreading.
The US move follows the European Union Aviation Safety Agency’s decision last month to ban airlines from Pakistan flying to its member states.