Hundreds of flights delayed as PIA employees protest

Hundreds of PIA workers protest incensed over the deal with Turkish Airlines, demanding removal of managing director.

ISLAMABAD: Hundreds of workers of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) protested across the country on Tuesday, incensed over the national flag carrier’s deal with Turkish Airlines and demanding the removal of the PIA’s managing director.

A complete strike was observed at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad, disrupting the flight schedule. As many as 18 flights were unable to depart while 12 flights, both domestic and international, could not land as protestors lay down on the runway.

The government made a belated effort to persuade union workers to give up their strike but rangers had to be called in  to maintain law and order at the airport after protesters refused to comply. Many protesters were found from aprons, where they had hidden to avoid arrest.

Senator Faisal Raza Abedi arrived at the airport to negotiate with protesters but only a small group of workers held talks with him and others refused to accept anything less than the removal of PIA MD Aijaz Haroon.

Karachi

From around 2:00 pm on Tuesday, dozens of members of the Pakistan Airline Pilots Association (Palpa) and other unions staged a protest outside the departures terminal at the Jinnah International Airport.

“It is not just code-sharing, it is more of a cowboy deal which was made without taking all stakeholders into confidence,” said Palpa general-secretary Captain TM Tabani, referring to the deal with Turkish Airlines. “Even if it is not an MoU as they are claiming and just a record of discussion, it is still suspicious and unacceptable. Our protest will continue indefinitely,” he said.

PIA flight attendant Nikhat Yasmin said there was no justification for saying the airline was incurring losses as they “dished out Rs760,000 on Abedi while they refuse to pay their ground technical staff.”

Sacked pilot Captain Sadiq Rehman flashed his termination letter, pointing out no reason for dismissal.

Two women, who were part of ground staff, said on condition of anonymity that if the airline was truly incurring losses then they should consider revamping their routes instead of selling off important ones.

Some domestic flights, mostly to Islamabad, were delayed or cancelled.  “About half a dozen flights were rescheduled, merged or cancelled,” PIA spokesperson Muhammad Mashhood Tajwar said.

Lahore

Many domestic and international PIA flights scheduled at the Allama Iqbal International Airport were delayed and many others were cancelled. A wrangle between PIA employees association and Peoples Unity Association also broke out in the afternoon which was later resolved by seniors from the associations. Workers from the Peoples Unity Association claimed that no routes had been sold out and the strike was only to pressurise the PIA administration.

Cancelled flights included PK 682 Lahore to Multan, PK 651 to Hyderabad, PK 654, 652, 658 and 656 to Islamabad, PK303 and PK 305 to Karachi, PK 610 to Peshawar, PK 255 to al Ain, UAE, and PK 205 from Lahore to Kuwait.

Peshawar

As many as 100 PIA employees staged a protest at the Peshawar International Airport, chanting slogans against the PIA MD and demanding an end to the deal with Turkish Airlines.

Malik Taj, who was leading the protest, told reporters that the deal meant that PIA routes were sold out to Turkish Airlines, which jeopardises the jobs of over 4,500 employees.

He said that all flights from the Peshawar airport have been rescheduled to Wednesday (today).

Quetta

The Islamabad-bound flight could leave Quetta Airport and people had to wait several hours at the airport as most engineers refused to report for duty. “Five flights were to take off and four did with a delay of a few hours. The Islamabad-bound flight was cancelled,” the station manager told The Express Tribune.

“I had a flight to Islamabad at 3:00 pm on Tuesday and I reached the airport at 1:00 pm, unaware of the strike,” stranded passenger Amjad Ahmed said.

With additional reporting by Mahnoor Sherazee in Karachi, Shahram Haq in Lahore, Manzoor Ali in Peshawar and Shehzad Baloch in Quetta

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2011.