ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s national airline announced on Thursday it would ground 150 pilots on charges of obtaining licenses by having others take exams for them, according to local media reports.

The Pakistan International Airlines’ move, which was confirmed by the airline’s official spokesman, follows an interim inquiry report on the last month’s plane crash that killed 97 people in the city of Karachi.

A process to remove the 150 pilots who possessed tainted licenses has been initiated, according to the PIA’s spokesman who did not share specific details with the media.

“We will make it sure that such unqualified pilots never fly aircraft again,” the spokesman said.

On Wednesday, Pakistan’s Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan had disclosed in the parliament that a large number of commercial pilots possessed “dubious licenses” while presenting preliminary findings of a probe into the crash.

According to the minister, 262 out of 860 pilots in the country had “fake” licenses.

The pilots of the ill-fated plane were discussing the coronavirus pandemic and repeatedly ignored warnings from air traffic controllers before the plane went down in a residential neighborhood near the airport, according to the inquiry report.

"The pilots were discussing corona throughout the flight. They were not 'focused'. They talked about the coronavirus and how their families were affected," the minister said, adding that the pilots were "overconfident." — Agencies