Ammon News - A senior Air Canada pilot has been released after being arrested on fraud charges for allegedly flying thousands of passengers on hundreds of flights without the proper license, officials told ABC News.

Canada's Peel Regional Police will hold a news conference Tuesday to share more details of "Project Icarus," a fraud investigation that led investigators to the pilot. The probe started after a random certification check turned up inconsistencies, officials said.

In a news release, Air Canada acknowledged what occurred and said it "takes this matter with utmost seriousness."

"Safety was not compromised by this incident because all pilots at Air Canada undergo mandatory recurrent training every six months to validate their flying competency, including a flight check with a certified Transport Canada check-pilot every 12 months,” the airline’s statement said. “However, appropriate licensing is an essential layer of the airline industry’s multi-layered approach to safety, so Air Canada ... has undertaken an audit of its pilot group and found no other instances of non-compliance."

The airline said the pilot, who was not named, has been fined and is no longer employed by Air Canada.

The pilot is due back in court later this month.


ABC