Owing to the standoff between Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and PIA Airlines Pilots Association (PALPA), many passengers were left stranded as approximately 35 scheduled flights were cancelled while dozens were delayed on Friday.
The issue started when the airline revoked licences of two pilots, and PALPA responded by announcing non-cooperation with the PIA authorities. Meanwhile, the passengers are left to wait with no end in sight to the standoff.
In a press conference at PIA head office, PIA Chairman Nasir Jaffer put the entire blame of cancellations and delays of flights on PALPA and said that the pilot’s association was now blackmailing the management of the airline. Director PIA flight operations and PIA Union members also accompanied the chairman during the press conference.
According to the national carrier, the flights were cancelled only because of the refusal from the pilots to fly in protest. About 35 scheduled flights of PIA were cancelled due to the unavailability of pilots till 7 pm and nearly four dozen flights were delayed, as the dispute between PIA and PALPA continued.
He said that PALPA had demanded unjust promotions and unjustified benefits for PALPA executives. The PIA management did not cancel the license of the pilot nor was it recommended by the airline, Jaffer said. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had taken this decision and PIA had nothing to do with it, he said.
While the PIA chairman said, “PIA management is constantly engaged with PALPA to amicably resolve the matter at the earliest,” there were reports that the airline’s top executives were in Dubai.
PIA chairman said that due to “the irresponsible attitude of PALPA at a crucial time, Hajj flight schedule would also be affected and PALPA would be directly responsible for the misery caused to the Hujjaj, including those who are injured.”
The chairman demanded the pilots not to display non-serious attitude to the airline and told them that the doors were open for talks. He also requested them to end their strike.
PALPA:
On Friday, the PIA management had summoned a meeting with all member associations, but the PALPA was left out.
In a statement released on Friday, PALPA President Capt Amir Hashmi said, “Pilots did not delay any Hajj flight and the management of the national airline is shifting the blame for its inefficiency to the pilots.”
“We had already directed all our members not to delay any Hajj flight, and all our members followed the instructions to operate the flights, which does not justify CAA’s victimization,” said Amir Hashmi.
He said that pilots were caught in double jeopardy. “The flights, planned by inefficient scheduling department, exceed flight duty time and are required to be operated by two crew sets which are denied by the administration. If pilots operate these flights they will be subject to CAA’s victimization and their license will be canceled as is the precedence,” Hashmi said.
However, the PALPA office bearers and members were still going out of the way to minimize the hardship faced by passengers, he said, adding that the stubborn attitude of the management was making it difficult even for PALPA to convince its members to operate flights.
“We have been trying to talk to the management for three months on the working agreement so it is wrong to say that the current situation has been developed due to the cancellation of the licenses of our two pilots,’ added Amir.
Both the pilots have moved the court, so there is no point in creating this situation, he said, adding that the management is not scheduling the roaster for pilots as per laws. “The management stops the negotiations with pilots every time by dint of not getting permission from Prime Minister’s Assistant on Aviation Shujaat Azeem,” added Amir.
However, he added that “only those flights are being affected where we fear penalization from Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) if we operate them. We had been painstakingly operating such flights just to save our jobs and our licenses.”
“Captain I. Kaleem and Captain Zahid’s is a similar case where they were suspended for one and two years respectively for violating the FDTL,” he said.
He alleged that the fact was that the acting chairman of PIA was director engineering department so he pressurized the department to clear the faulty aircraft for flying.
Speaking to a local news channel, Shujaat Azeem said that PALPA’s main demand was the removal of the director flight operations (DFO), which he added, was likely because the DFO was not listening to PALPA’s demands.
“They came to me and requested to sign the working agreement, which we are very happy to sign but it cannot be done like this. If we have to fix the airline, then we have to take hard decisions,” Azeem said.
