KARACHI, Pakistan - Debt-laden PIA, Pakistan's national carrier has lost more than eighty members of its air crews.

A large number of pilots and flight attendants have had their licenses cancelled, after it was discovered they had misrepresented their academic qualifications.

Sixteen pilots and 65 cabin crew members were found to have used false high school and university degrees to obtain their employment with the airline.

All eighty-one have lost their jobs as a result of the crackdown.

Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority (CCA) revealed the situation in a court hearing.

"We have verified the degrees of everyone except for six people," a lawyer for the CAA told Supreme Court Judge Mian Saqib Nisar.

"Pilots have the right to appeal against the suspension of their licences," he said.

"We do not want to halt anyone's source of income but we will not allow anyone to continue working with fake ­academic degrees," the CAA lawyer added.