KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will ground a third of its 434 pilots on suspicion they hold “dubious” licenses and flying certificates, a company spokesman said on Thursday.
The decision comes as an inquiry into a PIA crash last month, in which 97 people were killed, points to pilots not following procedures, while a government minister said the cockpit voice recorder suggested the pilots were distracted by a conversation about the novel coronavirus.
“We’ve been told that an investigation conducted by the civil aviation authority has found that about 150 of our pilots have dubious licenses,” company spokesman Abdullah H. Khan told Reuters.
All of the pilots under investigation would be grounded, he said. The PIA has a fleet of 31 aircraft that fly domestic and international routes.
Successive governments have tried to overhaul loss-making PIA over the years but with little sign of success.
The airline’s latest accident came late last month when an Airbus A320 on a domestic flight came down short of the runway in the southern city of Karachi, killing all but two of those aboard.
The aviation minister told parliament this week the plane’s pilots and air traffic control officers had not followed procedures and the two pilots had been pre-occupied by a discussion of the coronavirus shortly before the crash.
The investigation into pilots’ qualifications came after a 2018 crash when it was found that the test date on the license of the pilot involved had been a holiday — suggesting it was fake as testing could not have taken place on that day.
Another pilot had been out of the country on the date stamped on his flying certificate, Khan said.
PIA to ground nearly 150 pilots over ‘dubious’ licenses
https://arab.news/83g7t
PIA to ground nearly 150 pilots over ‘dubious’ licenses
- Decision follows an initial inquiry into Karachi plane crash on May 22
- Aviation minister highlighted irregularities at the national carrier before the parliament
Government says Pakistan’s IT exports hit record monthly high in December
- Finance adviser says IT exports crossed $400 million for first time in a month
- Pakistan aims to double exports to $60 billion in four years, with IT a key driver
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s information technology exports climbed to a record $437 million in December, crossing the $400 million mark for the first time on a monthly basis, the government’s finance adviser Khurram Schehzad said in a social media post on Monday.
The surge underscores the growing role of the tech sector as Pakistan seeks to boost exports while emerging from a prolonged economic crisis that drained foreign exchange reserves, widened balance-of-payments pressures and weakened the currency.
The government is now aiming for export-led growth as part of broader structural reforms under a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan program.
“December 2025 exports reached $437 million — crossing $400 million in a month for the first time ever,” Schehzad said in a post on X, adding that this represented 23 percent month-on-month growth from November and 26 percent year-on-year growth compared with December 2024.
For the first half of the current fiscal year, IT exports reached $2.24 billion, up 20 percent from a year earlier, making the sector the largest and most consistent contributor within services exports, he said.
Pakistan has been under pressure to sharply lift exports as it works to stabilize its economy.
Earlier this month, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said the country must double its exports to $60 billion within four years or risk returning to the IMF.
Pakistan’s IT exports have been on a steady upward trajectory in recent years. They reached a record $3.8 billion in the 2024–25 financial year, according to official data.
The momentum has carried into the current fiscal year, with IT exports posting 19 percent year-on-year growth during the first five months from July to November.
Exports during the period stood at $1.8 billion, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan.
The government has said it sees the technology sector as a key driver of foreign exchange earnings and job creation as Pakistan seeks to lock in recent macroeconomic gains and attract new investment.
