ISLAMABAD: It was December 2019 when Ghulam Sarwar Khan, minister for Aviation in Imran Khan cabinet, gave a statement on floor of the parliament, claiming Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in the past issued licences to pilots without proper scrutiny and that the Pakistan Tehreek- e -Insaf (PTI) government was going to have indepth investigations into the case as it involves security and safety of the passengers.
Prime minister, Imran Khan, who makes rare show , was also present in the national assembly when the Aviation minister gave statement on fake pilots issue.
The minister’s statement proved highly irresponsible and unfounded during follow-up investigations. He himself backtracked from his statement at different fora later on.
But damage to Pakistan aviation industry and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has already done.
The minister’s uncalled for and damning statement invited sharp reaction from the international aviation authorities including European Aviation Safety Authority and ,Internation Civil Authority Organisation (ICAO) .
In the first instance, PIA was banned by its every major international client like the United States (US) European Union (EU), United Kingdom (UK) and it was left in total disarray. The ban from the worldover, brought PIA virtually down to the knees . In months ,the national flag carrier’s loss ran in billions, besides leaving it to operate on small local routes to fight for survival.
The minister’s statement’s another fall out came on Pakistan flying club industry as the global aviation authorities slapped ban on CAA to hold exams of the new pilots and ground staff.
The ban on exams to issue licences to new pilots made the future of hundreds of new trainees uncertain. Pakistan flying club industry is now facing brunt of the controversy. The flying clubs in Pakistan were doing good business prior to Ghulam Sarwar Khan’s damn statement.
Pakistan has more than one dozen flying clubs and all of them were imparting quality training to the new generation for flying aeroplanes. But Ghulam Sarwar Khan’s statement has litterally turned this small, but prestigious industry into a graveyard.
Today three of 14 flying clubs, Faisalabad, Peshwar and Walton Lahore, have shut down as their management was not getting the new enrollment for one and half years and the remaining are reeling under financial crisis. Their future will not be different from Faisalabad , Peshwar and Walton Lahore if the ban on exams continues indefinately.
“As long as ban stays, CAA can not conduct any exams for issuing licences to the new entrants who have completed their flying training”‘ a CAA official said when NEWSMAN approached for comments on the issue.
“How can anyone opt to enroll in any flying club when he/she is uncertain of his/ her future”, said a father of a young chap who is done 190 hours flying, but waiting to take exam and get licence to become a professional pilot.
“I have invested huge some of money on my son’s training, but feel pained when see him sitting at home without any clear future”, the aggrieved father asserted.
Seeing no end to its vows, PIA started to outsource its international routes.
“Today PIA is operating as a local airline as it has outsourced almost all its earning routes to other international airlines ” , a PIA senior official confided to NEWSMAN requesting anonymity .
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which rejected the minister’s statement in the very begining of the controversy, is making every possible effort to restore confidence of the global aviation safety authorities in its working.
It addressed all concerns of ICAO in December 2020 and invited its team for audit that it argues can help remove ban on PIA to fly to the world destinations.
A CAA concerned officer said in his off-the -record statement ” We have addressed around 50 ICAO’s queries and its going to be followed by full scale audit of CAA hopefully sometimes in September/October this year”.
A positive outcome of the audit will bring things back to normal for Pakistan’s aviation industry, the official concluded.
