All Pak Flag Bearer Pilots Want to Quit: Top Official

Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) director-general (DG) Khaqan Murtaza told a Senate panel that all Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) pilots wanted to leave the airline over heavy tax deductions.

The DG explained the reason to the Senate Standing Committee on Aviation, saying around 35 percent of taxes had been deducted from pilots’ salaries, reports The Express Tribune.

He added that pilot hours would also be taxed.

“Most of the time you hear about flight cancellations, the reason for that is the lack of pilots,” he said.

Senator Mohsin Aziz, a member of the panel, inquired that the PIA would ever become profitable in her lifetime.

PIA CEO Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Amir Hayat responded that the national airline was making operating profits, The Express Tribune reported.

Senator Aziz urged him to report to the panel on the airline’s overall profit and not just operating profit.

The PIA managing director then switched to the subject of pilot licenses.

He said there were 141 pilots with questionable licenses, adding that 69 of them had been cleared.

The DG informed the panel that action would be taken against those who bought fake licenses and those who helped them.

He went on to say that the issue was disproportionately inflated when former Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan claimed before the National Assembly that 40 percent of PIA pilots had dubious licenses, The Express Tribune reported.