RAWALPINDI: As many as 10 passenger bridge operators at the Islamabad International Airport (IIA) were dismissed from service on Sunday after they stopped work demanding payment of salaries on Saturday.

As they went on a strike, airport authorities called bridge operators from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and no flight was delayed.

According to sources, the operators associated with a private company went on a strike and refused to operate the bridges when an Air China flight (CA-945) arrived from Beijing.

The protesters were demanding payment of their salaries, transport facility and medical allowance.

Airport deputy manager Zia Ahmed and duty terminal manager Saqib approached the CAA which called its bridge operators from other airports, including two from Peshawar and two from Faisalabad.

On Sunday, the 10 operators were dismissed from service by the company’s management.

Later, the Airport Security Force (ASF) was intimated and asked for the cancellation of their security passes.

After the dismissal of the operators, a new duty schedule was chalked out for the bridge operators by the CAA.

As many as 14 operators, five of them from the CAA, have been assigned duty from 9am to 9pm while 18 operators will perform night duty and will be assisted by five employees from the CAA. The CAA operators will also keep an eye on the private company’s operators to avert any such situation in future.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2019