United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday wrote a letter to Pakistani authorities for verification of licenses of 54 pilots.

According to the letter, UAE seeks information of licensing credentials of pilots to make air travel and safe and secure. Licenses of aircraft engineers working in the UAE will also be verified, it stated.

The European Union Air Safety Agency (EASA) has also suspended the authorisation for the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to operate in Europe for six months.

'EASA has temporarily suspended PIA's authorisation to operate to the EU member states for a period of 6 months effective July 1, 2020, with the right to appeal against this decision,' a PIA statement said.

Earlier, Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan has said that the licenses of 262 pilots are 'suspicious' or 'doubtful', including 141 captains of PIA, 10 captains of Serene Air and 9 captains of Air Blue. Inquiries have been completed against 128 pilots while 148 have been grounded. Five officers who issued fake licenses have also been suspended and all these recruitments were made during the last two terms.

© Pakistan Press International, source Asianet-Pakistan