Pakistan said Friday it would criminally charge pilots found to have obtained fraudulent flying credentials as the authorities raced to identify those who work for overseas airlines. Detailing the outcome of an investigation, Pakistan said this week that almost one third of its pilots obtained their licenses after committing fraud in their pilot exams, such as by getting others to sit for their exams. Some of the pilots work abroad, the government has said, without releasing details about which pilots, countries or airlines. Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Pakistan’s aviation minister, told a press conference Friday that of the 282 pilots found to have cheated on their pilot exams, 177 were working at four Pakistani airlines. None would be allowed to continue to fly, he said. The airlines have been notified of the names and the pilots grounded, the government said. That left 85 pilots with allegedly falsified credentials working in unidentified places of employment, including foreign airlines, he said. A total of 107 Pakistani pilots work abroad, the government said. “We’re trying to find out where they’re working,” Mr. Khan said of the 85 untraced pilots. “Their credentials aren’t real.”<br/>
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A union of Pakistani pilots fired back Saturday at the country's aviation minister after he claimed that as many as 262 pilots working for state-run PIA and other airlines obtained their pilot licenses by having others take exams for them. Capt. Chaudhry Salman, head of the Pakistan Airline Pilots' Association, told a news conference in Karachi that claims by aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan were false. Karachi is where a PIA plane crashed last month killing 97 people. “There is no truth in these allegations,” he said. Salman acknowledged that 141 of his fellow pilots had been grounded by PIA a day earlier but said the pilots accused of obtaining “fake pilot licenses” were ready to defend themselves in any forum. Salman's comments came a day after Khan fired five aviation officials for their alleged involvement in a scandal in which pilot licences were allegedly awarded to people who had others take their exams. Khan said 141 PIA pilots whose licenses were tainted will not be allowed to fly. Salman said 39 pilots out of the 262 accused of obtaining fake pilot licenses had either died or retired years ago. He said the validity of the licenses and degrees of the pilot and co-plot who were flying the doomed flight PK-8303 were beyond any doubt.<br/>
Virgin Atlantic is attempting to secure a privately funded rescue deal worth up to GBP900m by the end of this week as it fights to survive after the slump in international travel during the coronavirus pandemic. The airline is in talks with hedge funds about borrowing about GBP250m and is lining up more than GBP200m from shareholders including founder Sir Richard Branson and Delta, which owns 49% of the company. Virgin Atlantic is also talking to plane manufacturers, credit card companies and leaseholders about the deferral or cancellation of payments worth hundreds of millions of pounds. One source said there were as many as 60 separate discussions about potential funding lifelines. Virgin has set an “informal deadline” of early July to finalise a deal, but is understood to be able to stretch talks beyond that deadline if necessary. Virgin said it could take three years for flight numbers to return to 2019 levels. The company has been told by the government it must explore all private options for finance before any public bailout will be considered. Talks with the government also continue about a potential injection of as much as GBP100m, it is understood.<br/>
Mexico's Interjet airline will begin restarting national and international routes in July, the company said on Sunday, as airlines across the world pin their hopes on recovering demand as some coronavirus pandemic restrictions on travel ease. The airline also said that despite undergoing a "deep restructuring" it has been able to maintain its 6,000-strong workforce thanks in part to unspecified support for its workers' union. Since March, lockdowns have kept legions of would-be travellers at home, which have starved airlines of cash and led to bankruptcy filings for carriers including LATAM and Colombia's Avianca. Interjet said that it had already begun restarting some routes from June 16. It said in July it plans to restart routes to seven domestic destinations from its hub in Mexico City, including the second and third biggest cities, Guadalajara and Monterrey, respectively, as well as Cancun beach resort. International service to Dallas and Houston will also restart in July, and routes to Los Angeles and Chicago in August. "This will continue in a gradual way," the company's statement said, adding that reopening national routes will be first priority and re-launching international flights will depend on each country's reopening rules.<br/>
Thailand’s NokScoot, which is partly owned by Singapore Airlines, said its board of directors decided to liquidate the company as the coronavirus pandemic dimmed prospects for its recovery. The airline, a joint venture between Singapore-based Scoot and Nok Airlines, has not recorded a full-year profit since its inception in 2014. “Unprecedented challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic have further exacerbated the situation,” the company said Friday. It said shareholders will meet in about two weeks to consider the resolution. SIA, which owns 49% of NokScoot through Scoot, said it does not see a path to recovery and sustainable growth for NokScoot. It said it offered to sell its stake in NokScoot to Nok Air for a nominal sum of 1 Thai baht, but it was not taken up. “We regrettably had to then make the joint decision to move ahead with the liquidation,” it said. The decision leaves 450 employees out of work.<br/>
Ryanair has threatened to close two regional bases and axe up to 120 pilot jobs unless pilots in its home Irish market bypass their union and directly accept a pay cut, a memo said. Europe's largest low-cost carrier is demanding pay cuts of up to 20% and changes to work practices across Europe. It has said it plans 3,000 job cuts and a reduction in staff unit costs, but faces union resistance in a number of markets. In the memo sent on Friday, Ryanair director of operations Neal McMahon told pilots the union council representing Irish pilots had walked away from talks on Wednesday, something the Forsa trade union denied. McMahon said a union request for an extension of a 30-day consultation on job cuts represented "stalling tactics". Instead, the memo sent on the company's internal messaging system, asked pilots to click a button to accept proposals including a 20% pay cut that would be reversed gradually within four years, a spreading of available work via job shares and unpaid leave, and "productivity improvements". It said the number of job losses, and whether bases at Cork and Shannon airports remained open would depend on the number of acceptances.<br/>
Iran said the process of decoding the flight recorders of a Ukrainian Boeing aircraft that crashed near Tehran earlier this year will start in France on July 20. “An Iranian aviation team will transfer the black boxes to France and data extraction will begin on July 20, if nothing happens out of the ordinary,” Mohsen Baharvand, the deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, was quoted as saying by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. Iran will lead the investigation and the reading of the black boxes, but other parties involved in the incident can send their representatives, Baharvand said, without giving details.<br/>
Ryanair dismissed the UK’s plan to relax quarantine requirements for people arriving from France, Greece and Spain as “more idiotic rubbish” and called for the restrictions to be scrapped entirely. The government plans next week to publish a full list of the countries with which it will establish so-called air bridges -- exempting incoming travelers from self-isolating for two weeks. It hopes the measures will restore a semblance of normality to an airline industry that’s been devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic and is shedding thousands of jobs. The biggest airlines operating in the UK are suing to overturn the quarantine policy. Industry officials say the government is unable to enforce the restrictions and they’re likely to destroy demand in the crucial summer travel season. “The UK government’s idea of “air bridges” is more idiotic rubbish from a government who can’t operate a “form filling” quarantine or a track and trace system either,” Ryanair said. “Thousands of British families are ignoring this useless quarantine as bookings to Europe from the UK for July and August are flooding into Ryanair.” Ryanair said it was planning to operate 1,000 daily flights from July 1.<br/>
Regional Express Holdings said Monday its board had approved plans to raise at least A$30m to launch jet services that would compete against Qantas Airways and Virgin Australia. Rex, a regional airline that operates turboprops, would aim to have a fleet of five to 10 jets based in Sydney and/or Melbourne to service flights between Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne from March 1, 2021, pending funding and regulatory approval, the airline said. It will raise at least A$30m through one or more of a sale-and-leaseback arrangement, equity injection and convertible notes, Rex said, adding that lessors were willing to provide funding covering 15 of its fleet of unencumbered Saab 340 turboprops. “Rex’s domestic operations will be priced at affordable levels but will also include baggage allowance, meals on board and preassigned seating,” Rex Deputy Chairman John Sharp said. “Lounge membership will be available for subscription. It is the hybrid model that Rex has so successfully pioneered over the last two decades for its regional operations.” Rex currently operates on less competitive regional routes like Sydney-Wagga Wagga and Adelaide to Port Lincoln using a fleet of ageing Saab 340 turboprops with 30 to 36 seats.<br/>