Rs 1bn losses, yet no end to PIA workers’ protest

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI/LAHORE – Sticking to their guns on the demand of removal of PIA MD Ejaz Haroon, the enraged workers of the national carrier continued their protest on the third consecutive day on Thursday, virtually paralysing flight operations countrywide.
The government sent its trouble-shooter, Interior Minister Rehman Malik to convince the angry PIA workers after its two-member ministerial committee comprising Khursid Shah and Ahmad Mukhtar failed to woo the Joint Action Committee (JAC) to end the strike. A source told Pakistan Today that Malik assured JAC that Haroon’s removal was being seriously considered, but the assurance could not satisfy the PIA workers’ representative committee and they decided that protests would continue until their demands were met.
Malik later told reporters that the issue would be resolved in the next two or three days. He said the disruption of PIA flights due to the workers’ strike had caused a loss of Rs 400 million to the national exchequer. The complete chocking of main airports across the country has created an emergency-like situation. Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad has seven stranded aircraft due to the JAC strike, and Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore also has no space for parking.
The congestion at the Lahore airport would result in diversion of non-scheduled international flights to other airports of the country like Sialkot, sources informed. Earlier, PIA Public Affairs General Manager Mamoon Rasheed said the ongoing protest had inflicted a loss of Rs 1 billion to the national flag carrier.
Meanwhile, cashing in on the total collapse of the PIA flight operations, private airlines have almost doubled their fares.Shaheen Air increased its domestic fare from Rs 13,000 to Rs 20,000 from Karachi to Lahore and Islamabad, while sources said only three or four Shaheen planes were operational at the moment.
However, Shaheen Air Director Flight Planning Faisal Rafiq denied the report, saying that they had not increased the fare. In a related development, PIA General Manager North Captain Qasim Hayat resigned on Thursday night but the report could not be confirmed until the filing of this report.