Crisis At PIA: Pakistan’s National Airline Collapses Overnight As Engineers Demand Pay And Spare Parts | World News
Due to the severe operational crisis affecting Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), aircraft engineers stopped issuing ‘airworthy’ clearances for flights and hence the airline came to a standstill in its operations across the country. As a result of the protest, all international flights scheduled after 8pm on Monday were suspended and hundreds of passengers were stranded at major airports including Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore.
Sources say at least 12 scheduled flights have been affected so far, including those carrying Umrah pilgrims.
Engineers Say Their Salaries Have Not Been Increased in Eight Years
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SAEP refused to act, with the firm position that none of its members would continue without assurances from the airline’s CEO that the grievances would be redressed. The union accuses management of neglecting its complaints for the last two months.
Engineers’ main complaints are serious:
No Increase in Salaries: They claim that their salaries have not been increased for the last eight years.
Security Consensus: They also claim that management is pressuring them to clear flights despite a shortage of basic spare parts.
The union’s statement regarding security is as follows: “We cannot fulfill the management’s orders by endangering the lives of passengers.”
CEO Labeled Strike ‘Illegal’, Claimed Sabotage
In response, the PIA CEO declared the strike “illegal”, arguing that it was against the Pakistan Essential Services Act, 1952.
He also claimed that the purpose of the engineers’ protest was to undermine the airline’s ongoing privatization process.
Meanwhile, the carrier’s management is trying to arrange engineering support from other carriers in the hope of resuming flight operations as soon as possible. However, the entire PIA flight schedule is still not valid; There is no indication when it will return to normal.
Passengers Stranded Across the Country
The unprecedented outage caused chaos in major international terminals. With operations in both the domestic and international sectors paralyzed, hundreds of passengers are left stranded without clear travel solutions going forward, further complicating the airline’s already critical financial situation.
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