LAHORE: Four international PIA flights were delayed up to four hours on Wednesday after its staff went on strike against the ‘attitude’ of a senior official at the Allama Iqbal International Airport.

Passengers bore the brunt of the strike of the PIA staff which they observed reportedly ‘on the pressure of the union (Air League CBA)’.

An official told Dawn that the PIA director (vigilance and security) visited some counters issuing boarding to passengers at 10am and ‘snubbed’ a couple of officials for not following the SOPs on booking the luggage. “On this some of the union members and the director exchanged hot words and subsequently the PIA staff went on strike,” he said.

The staff also held a demonstration on the airport premises against the director.

Four flights – PK-757 for Copenhagen and Oslo, PK-709 for Manchester, PK-270 for Delhi and PK-303 for Karachi were scheduled for their destinations in the morning.

The passengers who could not get boarding before the strike remained stranded for a couple of hours. They also chanted slogans against the PIA staff for causing inconvenience to passengers.

“The PIA staff should pick up their internal fights after the duty hours,” said passenger Azeem Rafique who witnessed their quarrel.

“However, after some four hours on the intervention of some top official of the management the PIA employees returned to the duty and issued boarding to passengers of the four flights which left for their destinations,” the official said.

PIA Lahore spokesman Ather Awan told Dawn the PIA staff returned to work after the matter had been resolved amicably. “The PIA also served lunch to the passengers and apologised to them for inconvenience,” Mr Awan said.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play