Hundreds of flights delayed as PIA employees protest

By Umer Nangiana
Published: February 9, 2011
Jinnah International Airport wore a deserted look as hundreds of flights were delayed throughout the country after PIA staff went on strike. PHOTO: ATHAR KHAN/EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD: Hundreds of workers of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) protested across the country on Tuesday, incensed over the national flag carrier’s deal with Turkish Airlines and demanding the removal of the PIA’s managing director.

A complete strike was observed at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad, disrupting the flight schedule. As many as 18 flights were unable to depart while 12 flights, both domestic and international, could not land as protestors lay down on the runway.

The government made a belated effort to persuade union workers to give up their strike but rangers had to be called in to maintain law and order at the airport after protesters refused to comply. Many protesters were found from aprons, where they had hidden to avoid arrest.

Senator Faisal Raza Abedi arrived at the airport to negotiate with protesters but only a small group of workers held talks with him and others refused to accept anything less than the removal of PIA MD Aijaz Haroon.

Karachi

From around 2:00 pm on Tuesday, dozens of members of the Pakistan Airline Pilots Association (Palpa) and other unions staged a protest outside the departures terminal at the Jinnah International Airport.

“It is not just code-sharing, it is more of a cowboy deal which was made without taking all stakeholders into confidence,” said Palpa general-secretary Captain TM Tabani, referring to the deal with Turkish Airlines. “Even if it is not an MoU as they are claiming and just a record of discussion, it is still suspicious and unacceptable. Our protest will continue indefinitely,” he said.

PIA flight attendant Nikhat Yasmin said there was no justification for saying the airline was incurring losses as they “dished out Rs760,000 on Abedi while they refuse to pay their ground technical staff.”
Sacked pilot Captain Sadiq Rehman flashed his termination letter, pointing out no reason for dismissal.

Two women, who were part of ground staff, said on condition of anonymity that if the airline was truly incurring losses then they should consider revamping their routes instead of selling off important ones.

Some domestic flights, mostly to Islamabad, were delayed or cancelled. “About half a dozen flights were rescheduled, merged or cancelled,” PIA spokesperson Muhammad Mashhood Tajwar said.

Lahore

Many domestic and international PIA flights scheduled at the Allama Iqbal International Airport were delayed and many others were cancelled. A wrangle between PIA employees association and Peoples Unity Association also broke out in the afternoon which was later resolved by seniors from the associations. Workers from the Peoples Unity Association claimed that no routes had been sold out and the strike was only to pressurise the PIA administration.

Cancelled flights included PK 682 Lahore to Multan, PK 651 to Hyderabad, PK 654, 652, 658 and 656 to Islamabad, PK303 and PK 305 to Karachi, PK 610 to Peshawar, PK 255 to al Ain, UAE, and PK 205 from Lahore to Kuwait.
Peshawar

As many as 100 PIA employees staged a protest at the Peshawar International Airport, chanting slogans against the PIA MD and demanding an end to the deal with Turkish Airlines.

Malik Taj, who was leading the protest, told reporters that the deal meant that PIA routes were sold out to Turkish Airlines, which jeopardises the jobs of over 4,500 employees.

He said that all flights from the Peshawar airport have been rescheduled to Wednesday (today).

Quetta

The Islamabad-bound flight could leave Quetta Airport and people had to wait several hours at the airport as most engineers refused to report for duty. “Five flights were to take off and four did with a delay of a few hours. The Islamabad-bound flight was cancelled,” the station manager told The Express Tribune.

“I had a flight to Islamabad at 3:00 pm on Tuesday and I reached the airport at 1:00 pm, unaware of the strike,” stranded passenger Amjad Ahmed said.

With additional reporting by Mahnoor Sherazee in Karachi, Shahram Haq in Lahore, Manzoor Ali in Peshawar and Shehzad Baloch in Quetta

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9th, 2011.

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Violence as govt-PIA union talks break down

Published: February 10, 2011
A passenger talks on her phone following the cancellation and delay in flights at the Islamabad airport. PHOTO: ONLINE
KARACHI: Violence at Karachi airport followed the breakdown of negotiations in Islamabad between the government and the joint action committee (JAC) representing the Pakistan International Airline (PIA) workers on Wednesday.

Airport Security Force (ASF) personnel baton-charged protesting PIA workers at the Jinnah International airport, Karachi, injuring two women and several media-persons present at the occasion.

The talks between the government and the JAC reportedly failed due to a stalemate over the removal of PIA’s managing director Ijaz Haroon.

The government refused to remove the PIA chief but both parties have agreed to not go ahead with a code-sharing agreement with Turkish Airlines, said JAC head Capt. (retd) Sohail Baloch after the meeting. While the minister for labour and manpower Khurshid Shah claimed the JAC had demanded time over the issue of Haroon’s removal, the claim was later refuted by the JAC.

Shah headed the team formed by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani Tuesday night to negotiate with union leaders of the national carrier. The team included information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira and defence minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar. Kaira was included following the refusal of JAC to engage with Mukhtar.

Meanwhile air travel through Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) remained suspended for a second consecutive day as the national flag carrier was paralysed by its striking workers at airports across the country.

The strike has so far resulted in the cancellation of 59 and delay of 16 domestic and international flights, according to a press release from the PIA. The ongoing protests have already caused a loss of Rs1 billion to the national carrier, added the release.

Benazir Bhutto International, Islamabad was the worst affected where a majority of flights were cancelled, said PIA spokesperson Mashhood Tajwar speaking to The Express Tribune.

Seven PIA aircraft are stranded at the Islamabad Airport as protesters have blocked the entrance of cockpit and cabin crew into the premises, the spokesperson added.

Protesting workers continued their sit-in at the airport road in Islamabad following the breakdown of the negotiations Wednesday night.

NA committee reviews agreement

Defence secretary Lt Gen (retd.) Syed Athar Ali on Wednesday told the National Assembly standing committee on defense that PIA had not signed any agreement to sell its routes to Turkish Airline.

The committee, chaired by Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho, expressed its concerns regarding the prospective code sharing agreement between the two airlines.

“PIA has no authority to sign agreement with any other country,” said the defense secretary, adding that neither the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) nor PIA could enter into negotiations with foreign countries on traffic rights. “It comes under the ministry concerned,” he added.

Earlier, MD PIA Ijaz Haroon had disclosed in a meeting of the subcommittee of the aforementioned committee that he had received the approval from the defense ministry to negotiate with Turkish Airlines on traffic rights.

Chaos at Islamabad airport

International flights remained completely suspended while only two flights from Karachi arrived at the Islamabad airport on Wednesday, with one carrying the members of the government’s negotiating team.

Earlier, the ASF officials and Rangers personnel stopped the entry of protesting PIA workers into the airport premises allegedly on the orders of the defence minister.

Meanwhile hundreds of PIA workers continued their protests and block the road outside the airport, chanting slogans against the PIA management.

Stranded in Lahore

While passengers for other airlines waited in the lounge, PIA’s passengers queued at the airline’s reservation and information center, rescheduling their flights as protests by the JAC continued at the Allama Iqbal International airport, Lahore.

Members of the JAC burnt tyres at the square adjacent to the parking entrance of Lahore airport, forcing other passengers to walk to the terminal building with their luggage.

The protesters, including sacked captains and first flight officers, forcibly stopped other pilots and crew members from entering the airport premises.

Anwar Khursheed, a passenger scheduled to depart to Saudi Arabia told the Express Tribune that his flight has been delayed till Friday. The administration itself is not sure if it will depart on Friday either, he said. Khursheed, who had come from the vicinity of Gujranwala, said he would have to hire a private van to go back home given the uncertainty.

Presser in Karachi

At least four Gulf-bound PIA flights were cancelled at Karachi airport on Wednesday according to the PIA spokesperson. Earlier, the JAC had conducted a press conference at the airport, reiterating demands of sacking MD PIA and cancellation of MoU with Turkish airlines.

Protests would continue until JAC’s demands are met, said general secretary Pakistan airline pilots association (Palpa) TM Rabbani while speaking to The Express Tribune.

“The MD is taking revenge from the PIA employees,” said Rabbani who is among the Palpa representatives facing show-cause notices from the defence ministry.

Cancellations in Quetta and Peshawar

Three scheduled flights were cancelled at Quetta International Airport including Lahore-bound PK-323, Islamabad-bound PK-329 and Karachi-bound PK 689.

“We reached airport at noon and were informed at 2.30 pm that Islamabad-bound flight was canceled,” said a passenger Zafar Mohammad while speaking to The Express Tribune.

Those who had called PIA inquiry were informed abuout the cancellations, except the Islamabad-bound flight, said a PIA official.

Meanwhile four scheduled flights were canceled at Peshawar while no reservations were made at the booking office.

The airline’s employees staged a protest outside the booking office in Saddar and no official was available on duty.

“Due to the strike, four of five scheduled flights were cancelled including three domestic and one international flight to Doha,” said leader of the Air league Sajad Khan.

Only one domestic flights to Karachi departed, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10th, 2011.

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PIA strike a boon for foreign, domestic competitors

By Farooq Tirmizi
Published: February 11, 2011
Pakistani passengers wait outside the departure lounge at Karachi International airport during a strike by employees of the flagship Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). PHOTO: AFP
KARACHI: The strike by PIA employees has resulted in a sharp rise in bookings for the national carrier’s foreign and domestic competitors.

Among the top beneficiaries of the PIA strike are Shaheen Airways and Air Blue, two Pakistani airlines that compete for much of PIA’s busiest domestic routes. Foreign airlines such as the UAE-based Emirates Airlines as well as Qatar Airways have seen a rise in their bookings, coming from some of PIA’s international passengers.

Contrary to some earlier reports, however, prices do not appear to have risen substantially on either the domestic or international flights.

“People are booking much closer to their flight date,” explained Shaheen Siddiqui, a travel agent based out of Karachi. “Flights are cheapest when booked well in advance. Closer to the flight date, prices can rise by as much as 40 per cent.”

Siddiqui said that she had received several requests for refunds from her clients who were not able to fly on PIA flights, particularly passengers who were flying to cities not served by other airlines, such as Sukkur, Multan, etc.

PIA is not the airline of choice for most Pakistanis flying to international destinations. For example, of the 39 weekly flights between Karachi and Dubai, over 30 are operated by Emirates Airlines. Dubai serves as a regional hub which most Pakistanis use when travelling to destinations around the world.

Most of the flights cancelled have been domestic flights. While cities such as Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and even Peshawar are served by other airlines, several other places, including major cities such as Hyderabad, Multan and Faisalabad are served almost exclusively by the PIA.

Most of these cities have been completely cut off from air travel over the past three days and do not have any alternatives to the PIA, despite regulations that require domestic airlines to serve non-core destinations.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 11th, 2011.

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Strike ends as PIA chief quits Published: February 12, 2011
Aijaz Haroon resigned following four days of protests by the airline's employees.
ISLAMABAD:
Ending one of the longest-ever strikes in the history of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), hundreds of its employees late on Friday night celebrated the ouster of the national carrier’s chief Aijaz Haroon whose resignation was finally accepted.

In a breakthrough in negotiations between the government and the joint action committee (JAC) of the PIA employee unions, the government accepted the resignation of the airline’s managing director.

The news had an immediate effect as the JAC announced to end the strike .

“All flights will operate according to schedule after midnight,” said Sohail Baloch, the head of the JAC.

Earlier, Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar and Interior Minister Rehman Malik held another round of talks with the JAC after the latter had threatened to continue the strike indefinitely if their demands were not met.

The protesting airline workers staged a sit-in outside Islamabad airport for the fourth consecutive day. All flights remained suspended meanwhile. PIA officials claimed the airline had suffered lossess of over Rs2 billion over the past four days.

In Karachi, police thrashed airline workers at Karachi airport who were protesting against a proposed agreement on route-sharing between Pakistan International Airlines and Turkish Airlines .

Protests disrupted the national carrier’s operations at major airports around the country for the fourth consecutive day on Friday, but the situation took a turn for the worse when police resorted to baton-charge, which left dozens of protesters wounded while hundreds were arrested.

Surprisingly, personnel of law-enforcement agencies were fully supportive of the armed mob of a political union.

Later, Palpa chief Sohail Baluch told The Express Tribune that their team was negotiating with the government, but he said: ‘”At the same time, we condemn police high handedness at Karachi airport.” General Secretary Palpa TM Rabbani was also reportedly injured in the police action.

Meanwhile, Joint Action Committee of PIA Employees (JACPIAE) condemned the use of police force on the protestors, saying the police had no jurisdiction over the airport premises.

In Lahore, the airline had to cancel at least 44 domestic and international flights because of the strike by the JAC. According to the official website of the Allama Iqbal International airport, just one flight departed, and three international and one domestic flight arrived at the airport.

The national carrier’s losses continued to mount as employees continued their protest on Friday, forcing passengers to seek out other option for their onward journeys.

Travel agents also said they sustained major business losses, adding they had to bear a loss of about 80 per cent on domestic flights and 50 per cent on international flights.

In a related development, the manager operations at the Daewoo terminal Ali Asghar told that The Express Tribune that the company had increased the number of vehicles to Karachi to assist stranded passengers.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12th, 2011.

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Faryal Talpur-owned Indus Air to replace PIA
By Ali Hussain - Nov 10th, 2011 (No Comment)
5
KARACHI: There is not a single day without any news about Pakistan International Airline, but not for any good reason rather all about its ailing financial health, poor performance, flights delay, emergency landings and etc. But there are some latest and stunning revelations that the ailing national flag carrier is being pushed to dead-end deliberately just to pave the way for a new private airline reportedly owned by a close relative of the President House’s inhabitant.
Though the state-owned airline’s financial health was not good before the incumbent dispensation, but during the tenure of this government it moved from bad to worst despite the repeated and consistent calls from all the quarter for restructuring and overhauling of the airline to restore its past glory.
As the airline is fast nearing toward collapse, there are startling reports that a private airline reportedly owned by a close relative of holder of top constitutional office of the country is being launched, which will replace the national flag carrier.
Reliable sources in the airline industry told The News Tribe that the national flag carrier was being deliberately pushed toward collapse so that the way could be paved for the new airline.
They claimed the new airline, Indus Air, is owned by Faryal Talpur MNA, sister of President Asif Ali Zardari, They further said that the news of PIA planes’ crash landings, technical faults and flights delays were being propagated purposefully on daily basis and despite repeated call no step had been taken for complete overhaul of the airline so that the PIA could be declared bankrupt and unfeasible entity. Despite repeated attempts the News Tribe cold not reached out to Faryal Talpur for her version about the issue.


The Indus Air reportedly owned by Mrs Faryal Talpur is a company registered in Bahamas and will become operative very soon, they sources confided to The News Tribe.
The sources said that the airline will be run by former Managing Director PIA Ijaz Haroon, who was removed as MD PIA after prolong strike and protest by PIA employees and pilots.
The website of the Indus Air says that the airline will be launched soon. According to the site, which displays the routes of the airline through map, the airline will run its flights to almost all domestic stations in Pakistan to which the PIA currently operates flights. The airline will operative flight on almost all domestic routes, besides major international routes.

Interesting, the domestic routes of the airline include those on which no private airline currently runs flight and as per PIA management, these routes are financially unviable such as flight from Peshawar to Chitral and Rawalpindi to Gilgit and Skardu.
According to an earlier news report carried out by The News Tribe, Pakistan International Airline (PIA) Managing Director Nadeem Yousufzai had said that the management of the airline was trying to overcome $130 million losses currently the airline was faced with.

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