PIA continues to face disruptions, Pakistan athletics squad's flight delayed by over six hours

Karachi, Nov 14 (PTI) The ongoing dispute with the aircraft engineers resulting in major disruptions to domestic and international flights in and out of Pakistan left the country's athletics squad stranded on Friday for over six hours on their journey to Riyadh for a sporting event.

The athletics contingent, which includes Olympic Gold Medallist Arshad Nadeem, his coach Salman Butt and other athletes, faced disappointment when they reached the Lahore airport in the morning on the way to Riyadh to take part in the Islamic Solidarity Games being held there this year.

“We found our Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight to Riyadh was delayed by more than six hours. The flight announcement said the delay was caused due to technical issues,” Butt told PTI at 3 pm (local time).

“We came to the airport at 6 am for the 9.25 am flight and have been stranded since then,” he said.

The tiff between PIA, the country's national flag carrier, and the Society of Aircraft Engineers Pakistan (SAEP), a representative of engineers, has been going on for many weeks.

The relations deteriorated when the engineers stopped issuing airworthiness certificates, effectively grounding multiple aircraft earlier this month, triggering mass cancellations across domestic and international routes.

The PIA statement last week claimed that any “cancellations/delays that are occurring are due to schedule rationalisation, weather conditions, or other operational reasons,” but it is now evident that the conflict with SAEP is the main cause of disrupted international and domestic flight operations since last month.

Even on Friday morning, several airlines faced problems at Pakistan’s key airports with widespread disruptions, with several flights cancelled and others delayed, affecting the travellers.

The quarrel between the PIA management and the engineers started three months back. Already, two engineers, who are also the SAEP office-bearers, have been dismissed and it has only intensified the situation with the engineers refusing to step back.

The PIA management claims the actions of the engineers is in contravention of the Essential Services Act, under which strikes or abandonment of work is a legal offence.

The engineers, who are up in arms for seeking a better pay-package and emoluments, argue that “they are at work” and it is just that they are not obliging the management with clearance certificates for aircraft without astute professional inspection.

The management sees this as a delaying tactic on the part of the technical workforce, which is disrupting flights on a daily basis.

On October 10, PIA engineers alleged that serious lapses in aircraft maintenance and a series of non-technical decisions by management had turned the PIA fleet into a scrapyard, reducing the number of operational aircraft from 34 to just 17.

Meanwhile, the PIA Air League and the PIA Senior Staff Officers Association (SASA) have announced their support for the SEAP amid its dispute with PIA management.

SAEP demands include an increase in salaries, which it said have remained stagnant for the past eight years, along with the timely provision of aircraft spare parts and an improved working environment.

PIA, which is sinking with liabilities and long-term financial burdens, reported a profit for the first time in 20-years earlier this month. The government has said it is still going ahead with its first phase of privatisation process through majority shares.

On November 5, the PIA accused the SAEP of attempting to sabotage the airline’s ongoing privatisation process by halting aircraft clearances under the pretext of safety concerns. PTI CORR NPK NPK