Vietnam Grounds Pakistani Pilots over Licence Concerns

Vietnam 's aviation authority said Monday that all Pakistani pilots working for local airlines had been grounded in the concern of global regulators that some pilots might have been using "dubious" licences.

Pakistan said last week that 262 airline pilots whose licenses could have been falsified must land, after the global aviation body, IATA claimed that anomalies discovered in Pakistan International Airlines' pilot licences indicate a "significant breach" in security checks.

“The head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has ordered a suspension for all Pakistani pilots working for Vietnamese airlines,” the CAAV said in a statement on Monday.

The suspension will be effective until further notice from CAAV, it added, adding that the authority is working with the Pakistani authorities to evaluate the pilot profiles.

Vietnam had licensed 27 Pakistani pilots, of which 12 were still active, while the remaining 15 pilots had expired or were inactive due to a coronavirus pandemic, according to the CAAV.

Of the 12 active pilots, 11 were working for budget airlines Vietjet Aviation and one for Jetstar Pacific, a unit of the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines.

Vietnam Airlines and Bamboo Airways were not using any pilots from Pakistan, the CAAV said.

Vietnamese airlines currently have 1,260 pilots, with nearly half of them holding foreign citizenship, according to the CAAV.