Pakistan International Airlines is best known for sacrificing a goat as part of its maintenance procedures and flying with more passengers than seats (and making customers stand for 1700 miles).
More than 30% of the airline’s pilots had fake licenses. Cockpit resource management was virtually non-existent at PIA.
Flight attendants run when they land outside the country. If they can get work on a flight to Canada, they’re going to stay in Canada.
Unable to afford even jet fuel, the Pakistan national carrier has been limiting its flight and the government has been attempting a sale despite labor backlash, because privatization threatens running the carrier as a fiefdom and piggy bank of corruption for staff. Previous privatization protests turned violent in clashes with police involving rubber bullets, water cannons and tear gas.
Now the European Union plans to lift its ban on Pakistan International Airlines flights, in effect in light of so many pilots forging licenses at the carrier.
Breaking news for Pakistan Aviation ! The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) lifts ban on carriers of Pakistan origin (registered). The development will help Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), now cleared to operate commercial flights to and from the European Union.… pic.twitter.com/lOXMwx8cOE
— FL360aero (@fl360aero) May 31, 2024
Before the pandemic PIA announced plans to fly to the U.S. starting in 2020, and even claiming the U.S. would allow them to handle their own security. That seems… unwise.
I won’t go so far as to criticize the goat sacrifice, which I think is a custom not materially different than christening a ship with a bottle of champagne. Nobody thinks the sacrifice is part of maintenance.
PIA’s problem was never anything unique to Pakistan but a symptom shared by many places that have corrupt governments running corrupt state enterprises and corrupt bureaucrats regulating all of it. PIA got caught, but I don’t think it’s remotely unique in the world. State carriers in many other places are run on the same general principles and I can think of a few airlines that let their head of state or their relatives or members of their royal family fly passenger aircraft when they get the itch or need a photo opportunity despite the fact that they would never have the hours or training needed to get into the right seat, much less the left seat, otherwise.
Waiting for Gary to break the news that Vasu Raja was hired on at PIA. They’re going after the sunbelt of the underserved Mediterranean markets.
I love goat how do they prepare it onboard? Especially Goat Cheese
And who cares if a pilot has a license as it keeps things exciting
You can become the next Airplane movie script like the Titanic
Simply NEVER Ever!
Yes, Gary, who of all people I would expect to remember Abraham, thinks constantly bringing up the goat sacrifice is funny so he does so constantly. And of course all of us know that meat comes from supermarkets. An animal sacrifice is to give thanks by giving up part of your wealth, with the meat going to the poor. We have a holiday coming up to commemorate the sacrifice of Abraham wherein I have already purchased a goat & after it is butchered the meat will go to an orphanage we support.
Looking into this today, I discovered that Pakistan was removed from the EU’s air safety list a couple of months ago but there are no Pakistani airlines with an EU Third Country Operator Certificate so PIA is still unable to fly to the bloc. I believe this is discussed in the next few weeks and at that point, PIA might win back its TCO.
@dwondermeant says:
I love goat how do they prepare it onboard?
Thank you for asking the important questions. One thing PIA is actually well respected for is their on board catering, and old SQ Spacebeds that were once the best seats in the sky (20 years ago) for the price of Premium Economy – which I hope will soon be coming to the USA.
Just because an ill informed Pakistan Cabinet Minister once commented that some PIA pilots flew on fake licenses it does not mean that the statement is true. As to slaughtering of goats before a scheduled maintenance is pure nonsense. I am a Pakistani. I never heard this nonsense before. Your only factual reporting is that some PIA crew have bailed out in Canada and have not returned for duty.
Pakistani politicians of all political parties and a large mäjority of government employees are corrupt to the core. That is a fact, which is why Pakistanis are bone poor leading to some desertions of PIA crew in Canada.
With 30% fake pilots, their safety record is shockingly good. Gives an idea of the undersized role pilots actually play in “flying” a modern passenger jet lol.
You don’t really need kicenced, trained pilots. Until something goes wrong. A monkey can fly a modern airliner. As demonstrated, until of course something happens. Like the 737 crashes. Nobody was flying those airplanes. Their training couldn’t help them because they virtually had none. Kinda like sleeping in your Tesla on the highway. It’s good for awhile. But is it safe?
30% of PIA pilots were not flying so much with fake pilot licenses as it was that a lot of the pilots had false or missing info for qualification of and/or maintenance of the licenses and yet were still being treated as currently licensed when they shouldn’t have been.
PIA and Pakistan are more typically a case in point in how too much bureaucracy is part and parcel of a problem. Was that “too much bureaucracy” also the case with the “30% fake pilot licenses”? Was that also the case with the blessing and inauguration/re-inauguration ceremonies not necessarily approved by PIA senior management? Inquiring minds want to know.
@Iqbal Hyder – I link to details on the goat story, and there are photos
And the fake license scandal is absolutely true
Fake pilot licenses were a big scandal in India too. As usual, India is about 2 decades ahead of the curve from Pakistan, and hopefully PIA can be privatized as Air India has been in the near future . . . it already has a decent amount of private competition.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-12857742
Glad everyone reading and in the comments have much more knowledge than Gary Leff who never stepped foot in Pakistan or PIA .. hope it’s privatized to fulfill operational requirements
It was 1 of the best company the best pilots we had
PIA is much better than EU/UK budget Airlines and never had any Accident/Hijack outside Pakistan.
PIA was one of the best air line in the past
But still better than Indian airlines
Please see previous complain and accident records compare to that airline
Goat and cow sacrifices are in their religion faith
but has big problem with one religion
I don’t understand why it’s sacrifices matter here
For your info an thorough inquiry was done. No fake licence were found. The a holes who made that lai didn’t know difference between PST and UTC. They had mixed up names and P numbers. Amongst other things. The whole thing was stirred up by an illegal Air force management which wanted to bring their own people into Pia. For your info Pia has a clean record in Europe and Usa. This ban is benefiting some parties who do bit want Pia to resume ops to Europe etc….
You whities love to malign Pakistan dint you?
This guy seems like eat snakes and pig meat. Never tasted a goat in his life and really jealous of pakistanis scarificing goat. Pakistan airline has better record in airline than these Mf wives licking captains ass to fly.
You are too far to go criticised PIA use to be the safety record and pilot ability is far better than some other country we know they are struggling but you need to tell your readers who create Emirates airline which country pilot used that’s Pakistan
I worked for Air Canada, a bankrupt and corrupt airline where all their wrong doings were covered up by government bail outs