PIA, pilots’ deadlock leaves passengers high and dry

LAHORE: With the deadlock between the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) pilots and the administration continuing, passengers and their relatives on Sunday still did not see any end to their suffering.

A PIA spokesman said the airline had suffered a loss of Rs 10.3 million due to the pilots’ ongoing ‘go slow’ policy, adding that the organisation was already facing a loss of Rs 72 billion as a whole. The spokesman said the airline was also facing an additional burden of Rs 220 million since 2007 (increase in the pilots’ salaries).

Higher salaries: He said the pilots were paid three to five times higher than the airline’s directors. He said PIA was not in a position to increase the pilots’ salaries, resulting in the directors and other senior administrators being forced to fly the airplanes.

Demands: Meanwhile, sources in PIA said pilots were demanding an immediate 35 percent increase in their salaries (with affect from January 2009), houses, cars, drivers, separate seats for pilots in every plane in the Business Class, stay in five-star hotels with a $200 allowance for international flights, Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 education allowance for their children and a fixed allowance for pilots, irrelevant of whether they work on local or international flights.

The PIA spokesman said there were about 450 pilots working with the airline, adding that only a few dozen were a part of the protest. He said a pilot was paid about Rs 100,000 to Rs 600,000 per month (depending on their seniority and experience). He said at least four flights were delayed on Sunday due to the ongoing ‘go slow’ policy – the pilots do not take consecutive flights and submit a medical certificate (meaning they are too exhausted for another flight).

A Lahore-bound flight from Dubai (PK-204) was delayed on Sunday. It landed at 9:06am instead of the scheduled arrival time of 6:10am. Similarly, two local flights from Karachi to Lahore and Islamabad to Lahore (PK-304 and PK-385, respectively) were also delayed. PK-304 arrived at 5:30am instead of the scheduled time (4:45am). PK-385 was supposed to land at 9:50am but was an hour late, arriving at 10:50am. The delayed departure of another flight, PK-203 (from Lahore to Dubai), became the reason of PK-204’s delayed arrival from Dubai on Sunday.

Accommodation: A spokesman from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said the airport authorities had made special seating arrangements for the passengers waiting for the delayed flights. He said refreshments as well as hotels were being provided to them by the airline in accordance with the delay and international rules. LINK...