LAHORE: The Lahore PIA management cancelled on Saturday an international flight and delayed two others for several hours after pilots refused to assume duty because of their union’s strike.

Officials say the pilots observing strike off and on for the last many days for the acceptance of their demands (raise in salaries, allowances etc) here at Allama Iqbal International Airport, finally refused to assume duty in three international flights-- Lahore to Barcelona, London and Manchester with a clear-cut message to the PIA management to either accept their demands or do whatever it wants.

“Though we succeeded in resolving issues with the pilots by 4pm, the situation forced us to cancel Lahore-Barcelona flight and delay two others. However, Lahore-Manchester flight left at 9:30pm and Lahore-London flight was scheduled for 2:30am (Oct 12),” a senior PIA official requesting anonymity said.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2014