PHOTO: AFP
Late-night talks between the government and the protesting staff of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) ended in a stalemate on Friday, ensuring that flight operations remain suspended for yet another day.
In a surprising move, Privatisation Commission Chairman Muhammad Zubair arrived in Karachi Friday evening and met the heads of the PIA employees’ Joint Action Committee including Captain Sohail Baloch, Nasir Janjua, Shamim Akmal at his home.
PIA strike grounds passengers across country
During the one-point agenda meeting, Zubair urged staffers to resume flight operations immediately since it was affecting the public at large. Once flight operations resume, he assured PIA staffers that the government would begin meaningful dialogue.
However, his attempts to convince them fell through. JAC head Captain Baloch, said that flight operations would not resume till negotiations are successfully concluded. JAC members are set to meet Zubair again after consulting other staffers.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Nehal Hashmi, who attended the meeting, told The Express Tribune that their meeting was positive and that they were now waiting for the JAC’s response which is expected today.
Security clearance revoked
In a bid to get stranded Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) passengers find seats on alternate flights, the ad-hoc management of the grounded airline hopes to re-activate its reservation system at various domestic airports today (Saturday), officials said.
To ensure that protesting employees -- whose country-wide strike will enter its fifth day on Saturday -- do not interfere with this step, the government has revoked airport security clearance of all PIA staff with immediate effect.
“We need those systems working, because we need to cross check all the tickets, which have been sold, before referring them to other airlines,” an official explained.
Feeling the crunch: PIA strike takes a toll on airport businesses
Since most of the tickets are computer generated, the only way to verify the valid ones is to match them with PIA’s official computerised record.
The Aviation Division had asked two domestic airlines -- Shaheen Air International and AirBlue -- to accommodate stranded PIA passengers who had confirmed tickets. In addition to the two domestic carriers, Etihad Airways has agreed to cater to PIA’s international traffic to destinations where it operates.
An official said that while these airlines had accommodated some passengers on available seats, they quickly ran into trouble because of the huge backlog and limited capacity.
Sky rocketing fares
With the PIA fleet grounded for a fourth day owing to the crippling strike, private airlines are cashing in on the increased demand by hiking fares.
“Private airlines are looting passengers by charging exorbitant fares,” complained Muhammad Riaz, a passenger at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad who had a confirmed PIA ticket for Saudi Arabia but had been stranded due to the strike as he called the agreement with private carriers on a ‘mutually agreed fare’ for stranded passengers “a charade”.
Meanwhile, the PIA management announced on Friday that all international and domestic tickets of the carrier not utilised during the strike would be refunded without any fee deduction, once operations resume.
Further, the reeling airline’s management has advised passengers with confirmed tickets seeking urgent travel to do so on their own account, assuring them that those tickets would be reimbursed. “The airline assures everyone that tickets would be refunded,” said the spokesman.
On their own
After the strike grounded PIA’s operation, the carrier’s cabin crew lodged at hotels in various cities joined the long list of stranded passengers. But on Friday they were treated to a rude shock when they received letters asking them to immediately head back home at their own expenses.
Govt unable to circumvent PIA staff boycott
“The decision was announced in an internal memo,” shared an employee who wished not to be named.
On its part, PIA management explained that the cabin crew’s fare would be refunded.
Stranded pilgrims return
Of the 2,000 pilgrims stranded for nearly four days in Jeddah, 700 returned to Karachi on Friday aboard Saudi Arabian Airlines. The airline was supposed to ferry around 300 stranded Umrah passengers but the pilgrims, who have been lodged at the Airport Hotel in Karachi, protested that the authorities had failed to inform them about this arrangement.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 6th, 2016.
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