- Dozens of PIA flights delayed, several cancelled as engineers protest.
- SAEP says engineers on duty, but won’t clear jets deemed unsafe.
- Six Peshawar-based engineers transferred to Karachi amid dispute.
The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft engineers’ protest has entered its second day, as dozens of flights in Karachi were delayed on Tuesday, with several cancelled outright, leaving scores of passengers stranded.
A dispute between Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) management and its aircraft engineers has brought flight operations to a near standstill, as engineers stopped issuing safety clearances, leaving several aircraft parked on the ground and passengers stranded across major airports.
Sources said the protest has thrown the schedule into disarray. After about 8pm on Monday, none of PIA’s international flights managed to take off, and dozens of domestic and outbound services have since been delayed or cancelled.
The airline’s management has begun taking disciplinary action against the engineers, according to Society of Aircraft Engineers of Pakistan (SAEP) sources.
Six aircraft engineers posted at Peshawar airport have been transferred to Karachi, the sources said. They insisted the engineers are not on strike — they’re reporting for duty and clearing only the aircraft they believe are fit to fly.
Anything they don’t consider airworthy won’t get clearance, they added. The management, they claim, is trying to push approvals through pressure and intimidation.
As part of a backup plan, PIA brought in engineers from a private company, but they managed to clear only two flights, the SAEP sources said.
Scores of flights grounded
At least 55 flights were affected on Monday, with five cancelled across the Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad airports, they said.
Twelve international flights were also disrupted, putting passengers in a difficult spot. A large number of them are Umrah pilgrims.
Two Karachi-Skardu flights and one Lahore-Karachi flight were cancelled, while Lahore-Muscat flights PK-329 and PK-330 were also cancelled.
Similarly, the Karachi-Lahore flight PK-302 was delayed by over 14 hours, while Karachi-Islamabad’s first flight, PK-300, could not take off as scheduled. Islamabad-Gilgit flights PK-601 and PK-602 also failed to operate due to operational disruption.
The SAEP said its members would not return to work until the airline’s CEO changed his attitude. They’ve stopped issuing airworthiness clearance for the aircraft, the union said.
According to SAEP sources, the engineers had been wearing black armbands for almost two and a half months to press their demands.
They said that even during this long, peaceful protest, the airline’s management didn’t bother to sit down and talk to them.
Sources say the engineers haven’t received a raise in eight years, and the airline is facing a serious shortage of spare parts, alleging that the engineers are coerced into clearing aircraft for flights in breach of aviation rules.
The SAEP said they could not put passengers’ lives at risk because of pressure from the airline’s management.
The CEO of the national airline has ordered strict action against the aircraft engineers and warned that any engineer responsible for disrupting operations would face tough measures.
On the other hand, a spokesperson for the national airline said the aircraft engineers’ body held no legal standing, and “the real aim of this movement is to sabotage the airline’s privatisation.”
He said calling it a “safety issue” and walking off the job at the same time was a deliberate act meant to trouble passengers and create unfair pressure on the administration.
“The Pakistan Essential Services (Maintenance) Act, 1952, is in force at the national airline, which makes strikes or walkouts illegal,” the CEO said, adding that those taking part in or supporting such actions will face legal consequences.
He also said that the management was arranging engineering support from other airlines, and flights would begin departing soon.
