IN Pakistan’s aviation sector, there is an acute shortage of ‘experienced’ pilots. The catchword here is ‘experienced’, because all domestic airlines want experienced pilots with a couple of thousand hours on A-320 aircraft. Almost all local airlines are flying Airbus aeroplanes. The thing often ignored is that experience can only be achieved if a pilot is inducted, trained and certified to operate commercial airlines. This process needs a lot of money. Individuals do not often have the resources, and airlines are unwilling to foot the cost. This is the main reason behind the shortage of experienced pilots in Pakistan, though there must be around a thousand jobless individuals holding Commercial Pilots Licence (CPL).

The irony is that Pakistani airlines are willing to give jobs to foreign pilots and pay them handsomely in foreign currency. There are around 75-80 foreign pilots currently flying in Pakistan, which means a colossal volume of dollars is flying out of Pakistan, whereas Pakistani nationals are running from pillar to post.

This is a dilemma which our young pilots are facing, after their parents have already spent huge sums of money to get them their CPLs from flying clubs within the country. Around 2016-17, an effort was made by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to ask local airlines to induct at least half-a-dozen pilots every few months. This is the only way to address the current shortage of pilots. If this is done on a sustained basis, Pakistan would not require foreign pilots at all. This will open up job opportunities for Pakistani nationals, and, as a consequence, the flight of foreign currency would also nosedive.

Wg-Cdr (retd) Arif Majeed
Karachi

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2026