PIA flight takes off after 15-hour delay

An Abu Dhabi-bound flight of the Pakistan International Airline (PIA) was delayed by over 15 hours due to some technical snags on Saturday night before it finally took off amid protests from agitated passengers.

A spokesperson for the PIA confirmed that the flight (PK-261) was scheduled to depart from Islamabad Airport at 10 pm on December 9 but a technical fault impeded its operation.

However, the snag was successfully handled by the engineering department and after 10 hours of repairing, the fault was removed. The flight eventually took off at 12pm on Saturday from Islamabad Airport.

Meanwhile, frustrated having had to wait endlessly, the passengers lodged their protest and staged a sit-in at the airport departure lounge over the inordinate delay of the flight. They chanted slogans against the airline’s administration and crews.

The passengers complained that they were not informed about the rescheduling of the aircraft when they first turned up at the airport to catch the flight and were asked to remain seated.

They remained seated for two and a half hours, following which they were told to wait in the departure lounge, the protesting passengers said. They shared that after every half an hour they were told to wait for another half hour.

The spokesperson in a statement regretted the incident and apologized on behalf of the national carrier for the inconvenience. “PIA staff took regular and complete care of the passengers,” he added.